\ 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


PRESENTED   BY 

the  Ssto.te   of 
Finley  DuBoic  Jeiilvins 


BL  51  .P38  1921 

Paul,  John. 

What  is  new  theology? 


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/ 

By  JOHNPAUL.  D.  D. 

OF  ASBURY  COLLEGE 

LECTURER  FOR  INTERDENOMINATIONAL  CONVENTIONS.  JAPAN. 

1917.    SPECIAL  EVANGELIST. 


Jft     ^     JH     Jl 


^^^  DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLICATIONS,  ASBURY  COLLEGE. 

WILMORE,KY. 


W. 


■^'         BY   JOHN   PAUL.         ^    J^^^-LU  A  , 


/a 


''^     ,  .„  //-f  ^  r^4-' 


'>WKL/W-<^ 


/  > 

INTRODUCTION. 

v.  -*''  The  author  of  this  volume  preceded  his  ef- 
fort with  lateral  readings  and  review  work 
"/  in  science,  philosophy  and  theology  intended 
to  lead  up  to  a  large  volume  or  two  of  sys- 
tematic theology.  With  all  deference  to  the 
superior  works  we  now  have  in  systematic 
theology,  it  was  thought  a  work  was  needed 
from  an  evangelical  source  which  addressed  |  —f- 
itself  more  to  the  new  points  of  emphasis  and 
the  issues  which  have  arisen  from  these  new 
angles  of  discussion.  The  so-called  liberal 
works  in  systematic  theology,  which  lay 
principal  claim  to  the  field  so  far  as  new  pub- 
y/  lications  are  concerned,  have  narrowed  the 
'  '■'  province  of  the  subject.  In  keeping  with  the 
modern  method  of  specialization,  they  have 
broken  it  up  into  many  topics,  some  to  be 
handled  by  scientists,  some  by  linguists, 
some  by  sociologists  or  historians,  and  some 
by  preachers.  It  is  implied  that  one  individ- 
ual takes  too  much  upon  himself  when  he 
undertakes  to  adhere  to  the  old  method  of 
presenting  the  tenets  of  theology  in  a  com- 
prehensive system.  While  there  is  a  defence 
for  this  new  division  of  labor  in  the  field  of 
theological  literature,  it  is  believed  by  many 
that  a  comprehensive  approach  to  the  great 
subject  offers  peculiar  advantage  to  the  av- 
erage reader. 


'jS.j^    ^m 


But  we  have  turned  aside  from  our  task 
to  deal  first  with  the  vitals  of  our  subject,  in 
undertaking  to  introduce  our  readers  to  the 
new  theolog>^  sifter  and  call  attention  to  the 
old  theology  wheat.  We  would  not  be  so 
conceited  as  to  liken  this  little  volume  to 
Moses'  challenge,  "Who  is  on  the  Lord's 
side?"  Yet  the  book  is  confessedly  a  feeler 
for  the  theological  pulse  of  the  hour,  and 
its  writer  desires  to  hear  personally  from 
every  one  who  reads,  even  if  the  expression 
is  adverse.  We  venture  to  assure  the  reader 
that  this  is  an  unsectarian  exposition  of 
those  verities  of  religion  without  which  no 
church  may  have  final  success;  and  that, 
though  our  illustrations  and  methods  of  ap- 
proach may  be  new,  the  volume  contains  no 
J  eccentric    views    in    religion,    while    in    its 

/       'i    science  it  takes  care  to  exclude    everything 

i:^^*^,  .,/ that  the  scientists  kn^  to  be  incorrect, 
though  many  of  them  may  think  differently. 
It  is  expected  that  every  reader  who  believes 

^     »■  in  the  fundamentals  of  the  gospel  will  find 

*'•  here  reflections  which  will  refresh  his  faith, 
and  that  those  who  think  the  formula  of  or- 
thodoxy needs  to  be  rewritten  will  find  them- 
selves in  an  arena  of  fair  and  healthy  dis- 
cussion for  testing  the  soundness  of  their 
own  views. 

In  these  chapters  we  undertake  to  offer  a 
statement  of  the  case.  Whether  we  shall  go 
on  and  produce  the  extended  work  in  system- 
atic theology  depends  upon  providential  indi- 


^«'^^" 


cations.    Is  it  needed?    If  needed,  will  some 
one  better  qualified,  or  with  more  leisure  to 
do  the  work,   be  raised  up  to   supply  the  ■^  ^"^"^^uWCul 
need?    This  writer  is  quite  willing  to  let  the  ji^^^. 
small  volume  here  introduced  end  his  part  of  L    -       '^^'^ 
the  task  by  serving  as  a  kind  of  signal  in.     r**"**"*^  *- 
the  theological  mulberry  trees.     It  assumeal'^  ***^*-^  -' 
to  furnish  to  its  readers  the  gist  of  thoughtj  -t^^^j^  J 
which  they  may  need   to    write   their   own!  >f  /    / 
chapters  or  build  their  own  sermons,  and  itl  "^ 

may  be  that  divine  providence  will  indicate!  •'^•i-^^c-*^ 
individuals  to  write  the  chapters  and  build  "      ^  ' 

the  sermons  needed,  and  leave  the  architect 
of  this  small  blue  print  at  liberty  to  go  on 
with  an  evangelistic  message. 

Our  first  thought  was  to  have  an  intro- 
ductory expression  from  serious  chief  pas- 
tors of  the  several  evangelical  denomina- 
tions. There  are  such,  in  every  church,  who 
are  deeply  concerned  with  the  light  manner 
in  which  the  fundamentals  of  Bible  Chris- 
tianity are  being  revised  at  the  behest  of  an 
uncertain  modern  philosophy.  Some  have 
read  our  advance  chapters,  and  have  evi- 
denced a  willingness  to  lend  them  such  a  seal 
of  approval.  It  is  not  conceit  that  has  made 
us  avoid  this ;  but,  in  keeping  with  the  above 
explanation,  a  desire  that  in  its  first  editions 
the  work  should  be  like  Gideon's  fleece  of 
wool,  getting  responses  on  the  merit  or  de- 
merit of  its  pages,  without  a  borrowed 
prestige. 

Wilmore,  Ky.  JOHN  PAUL. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

Introduction    3 

I.     The  Parting  of  The  Ways 9 

II.     Evolution  and  Faith   18 

III.  The  God  of  The  New  Theology ...  34 

IV.  'Christ  And  The  New  Theology. . .  55i 

V.     The  Authority  of  The  Bible 79 

VI.     The  Atonement  and  Modern 

Thought 104 

VII.     The  Gospel   Program    129 


u>t  ^^  '^, 


I       .    /«  it"  *-^ 


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^ 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS. 

By  the  new  theology  we  mean  that  system ^ 

of  Christian  doctrine,  identifying   itself   as       "TZf       > 
theistie,^' Svhich  is  entirely  amenable  to  \h&_     {^^^^^^ 
po&l^n    of   modern   science;   especially   toi  —————' 
those     assumptions     of     induction     known 
as    the    conservation    of    energy    and  the 
uniforynity      of      nature;      and      to      the 
doctrine     which     is     the     historic      out- 
growth of  these  assumptions,    namely,    the 
evolution  of  the  earth  and    its    inhabitants. 
By  a  process  of  analogy,  the  whole  scheme  of 
origins  is  brought  over  from  the  physical  to 
the  social,  religious  and  political,  and  made 
to  dovetail  with  data  which  seems  to  con- 
firm the  theory.    The  injection  of  new  forces, ' 
under  the  head  of  the  supernatural,  is  impps-  )  '"^  " 
sible  in  the  premises.    The  ethics  of  the  ten  ^i%/MA  ' 
commandments  could  not  have  been  handed  ^ 

down  from  Sinai  by  the  Almighty,  nor  could 
any  other  epoch-making  contribution  have 
come  in  from  outside  the  natural  order.  Many 
in  the  evangelical  field  who  undertake  thus 
to  defend  the  integrity  of  natural  law  and 
find  common  ground  for  evolution  and*  re  vela- 
tion  will  think  our  boundaries  too  sharp  in 

9 


^ 


1  10  /    WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 


^^»^ 


»  jidefining  new  theology;  but  anything  less 
khan  one  hundred  per  cent  consistency  in 
fcis  field  is  inconsistency.  A  new  theology 
that  leaves  a  niche  for  the  spiritual  or  the 
supernatural  is  new  theology  improperly  so- 
called. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  we   question 

Hhe  common  ground  of  true  religion  and 
true  science.     There  is  no  area  which  they 

/  would  dispute,  any  more  than  there  could  be 
an  area  disputed  by  sunlight  and  at- 
m^osphere.  Atmosphere  is  a  mundane  quan- 
tity and  sunlight  is  a  solar  quantity ;  but  the 
eartli  and  the  sun  were  devised  by  the  same 
^.  a-  architect,  "^e  have  no  fanatical  brief  to 
.t^v^'^^f^V  maintain  against  evolution.  The  point  is 
this:  The  conservation  of  energy    and  the 

.   uniformity  of  nature  explain  all  that  exists 

I  today  and  determine  all  that  shall  take  place 
tomorrow,  or  they  do  not.  Clearly,  there  is 
no  middle  ground. 

LAISSEZ   FAIRE  RELIGION. 

While  the  big  interests  of  German,  Eng- 
lish and  American  culture  have  furnished  us 
men  with  nothing  to  lose  or  to  fear,  who  do 
not  trim  from  the  new  theology  any  of  its 
logical  implications,  the  evangelical  schools 
have  furnished  us  some  grown  men  in  the 
new  theology,  who  can  eat  its  strong  meats, 
but  who  recognize  the  need  of  giving  milk  to 
them  that  are  not  of  full  age ;  hence  the  form 


.r^ 


^) 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?         11 

of  the  new  theology  as  we  find  it  in  the  sem- 
inaries and  Biblical  departments  of  colleges 
of  evangelical  churches  does  not  answer 
literally  to  our  definition.  This  is  not  be- 
cause our  definition  is  wrong,  but  because 
they  have  arbitrarily  modified  the  system  of 
new  theology,  under  the  influence  of  the  yet 
unspent  momentum  of  orthodox  traditions. 
There  is  here  a  more  sympathetic  type  of 
teachers  of  the  new  theology,  who  refuse  to 
be  ruthless.  They  believe  in  journeying 
gently  with  the  tender  children  and  the 
flocks  and  herds.  Unlike  the  Esaus  of  ra- 
tionalism, they  feel  that  their  crude  brethren 
of  the  old  school  are  worth  saving.  They 
speak  caressingly  of  the  old  tenets,  and 
make  a  place  for  them  that  are  too  deeply 
rooted  as  yet  to  be  uprooted.  This  form  of 
d^iplomacy  or  casuistry  is  given  ethical 
standing  by  no  less  an  authority  than  Her- 
bert Spencer,  who  says  in  his  autobiogra- 
phy: 

"I  have  come  more  and  more  to  look  calmly  on 
forms  of  religious  belief  to  which  I  had  in  earlier 
days  a  pronounced  aversion.  Holding  that  they  are 
in  the  main  naturally  adapted  to  their  respective 
peoples  and  times,  it  now  seems  to  me  that  they 
should  severally  live  and  work  as  long  as  the  condi- 
tions permit,  and  further,  that  sudden  changes  of 
religious  institutions,  as  of  political  institutions,  are 
certain  to  be  followed  by  reactions." 

The  people  who  submit  to  these  modifica- 
tions, these  mixtures  of  wool  and  linen  in  the 


12        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 


same  garment,  do  not  care  to  have  their 
teaching  classed  as  "new  theology" ;  but  per- 
manent bodies  of  philosophy  or  theology  go 
in  systems,  each  part  related  to  the  others, 
and  constituting  a  strong  argument  if  not  an 
absolute  proof  for  the  other  parts  in  the 
system.  Any  point  that  does  not  thus  fit  in- 
to a  system  of  teaching  may  at  its  worst  be 
incompatible;  but,  it  may  abide  in  the  sys- 
tem as  innocent  alien  matter,  harmless  in 
he  absence  of  inflammation,  like  a  splinter 
ncysted  in  the  flesh  of  a  man,  which  got 
here  in  his  childhood.  Such  is  the  doctrine 
jot  angels,  good  or  evil;  for  which  science 
has  no  place.  Such  is  the  thought  of  a  sep- 
ty  in.  man,  known  as  the  soul.  In 
his  list  come  miracles  and  all  forms  of 
supernaturalism,  as:  divine  providence,  the 
immediate  operation  of  God's  Spirit  in  con- 
viction, regeneration  or  assurance;  answers 
to  prayer,  excepting  as  in  mere  subjective 
consequences;  the  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures; the  miraculous  element  in  prophecy; 
the  preternaturalness  of  the  origin  of  sin; 
the  doctrine  of  divine  judgment,  with  its 
logic  of  rewards  and  penalties;  the  super- 
naturalness  of  the  birth  of  Christ  and  his 
divine  person ;  the  Biblical  doctrine  of  atone- 
ment for  sin.  Not  one  of  these  "tradition- 
al" positions  has  a  consistent  place  in  the 
new  theology,  but  it  may  readily  be  seen 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        13 

that  all  these  conceptions  cannot  be  uprooted 
at  one  stroke.  Indeed  there  are  scholarly- 
men,  with  reverence  for  the  past,  for  whom 
the  new  theology  has  charms,  but  whose 
whole  nature  would  revolt  against  a  proposal 
to  renounce  all  these  incompatible  old  tenets. 
But  these  old  doctrines  are  excrescences  in 
the  new  theology,  the  tenets  of  which, 
under  present  day  prestige,  are  so 
much  more  virile  that  the  old  doc- 
trines tend  to  slough  away  or  pro- 
trude so  conspicuously  that  they  have  to  be 
pruned  away.  The  strain  in  a  mongrel  breed 
which  decides  the  classification  will  cause  all 
other  kinships  gradually  to  be  forgotten; 
nor  is  that  strain  always  the  superior  strain. 
It  has  been  observed  that  the  evolution  of' 
the  new  theology  usually  requires  more  than 
one  generation;  that  what  a  teacher  with 
"liberal"  tendencies  cannot  himself  spare, 
can  be  easily  dispensed  with  by  his  diciples 
and  cordially  antagonized  by  their  disciples. 
The  regressive  evolution  from  orthodoxy  to 
new  theology,  if  evolution  it  is,  has  illus- 
trative specimens  in  all  stages,  each  in  his 
ecclesiastical  stratum;  from  the  slightest  re- 
shapement  to  the  handsomest  reconstructed 
state. 

THE  AGE  OP  ORIGINALITY. 

Enough  of  the  mental  bacteria  of  our  new 
age  has  entered  the  psychology  of  educated 


14        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

orthodoxy  to  remove  its  maiden  reserve,  its 
primitive  tenseness,  in  the  presence  of  criti- 
cal deliverances  on  fundamental  truth,  and 
to  save  it  from  strained  literalism.  In  the 
name  of  this  improvement,  the  nev^^  the- 
ology camel  often  gets  his  head  into  the  or- 
thodox tent.  The  inability  of  the  average 
preacher  and  Bible  teacher  to  distinguish  an 
interpretation  or  doctrine  which  fits  only  in 
the  new  theology  system  leads  to  an  unde- 
fined sense  of  awkwardness,  a  want  of  men- 
tal rest,  when  once  such  a  doctrine  is  ac- 
cepted. In  course  of  time  tliis  will  culminate 
'in  a  virtual  surrender  to  the  new  theology  as 
,a  system.  The  awkward  situation  may  be 
lendured  for  one  generation,  but  the  next 
generation  will  probably  find  relief  along  the 
line  of  least  resistance.  Throwing  tradition 
to  the  winds  they  will  enforce  consistency  in 
the  body  of  their  doctrines. 

The  arbitrary  way  is  often  the  easier  way 
to  hold  a  doctrine,  even  when  that  doctrine 
is  true.  The  habit  of  eliminating  all  misfits, 
of  putting  nothing  but  round  pegs  in  round 
holes,  of  requiring  comity  between  the  neigh- 
boring units  in  a  body  of  doctrine — in  short, 
the  ability  to  escape  the  necessity  of  doing 
business  partly  upon  borrowed  or  reflected 
convictions  is  thought  to  belong  only  to  a  few 
profound  theologians.  In  the  true  situation, 
it  should  be  popularized.     We  should  seek  in 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        15 

the  Church  a  high  level  of  enlightenment, 
where  the  average  disciple  of  Christ  can  see 
his  faith  as  a  system  and  be  able  to  sense 
every  vain  philosophy  that  is  incompatible 
with  faith. 

When  an  individual  has  a  derived  convic- 
tion, when  he  believes  a  thing  because  of  his 
breeding,  because  it  represents  the  atmos- 
phere in  which  he  became  a  Christian,  or 
the  school  in  which  he  was  educated,  we  say 
that  the  reason  for  his  belief  is  psychological 
rather  than  logical.  We  cannot  deny  that 
such  a  basis  of  belief  may  be  valid  and 
useful,  .^cience  or  Scriptural  truth  may 
be  held  this  way,  just  the  same  as  error; 
doctrines  that  bless,  the  same  as  doctrines 
that  blight.  But  a  man  who  holds  a  true 
doctrine  for  psychological  reasons,  who  ac- 
cordingly lacks  originality  in  his  convic- 
tions, suffers  two  disadvantages.  He  will 
not  be  intelligently  aggressive,  and  he  will 
not  be  proof  against  encroachments.  Referr- 
ing to  the  former,  a  conviction  must  be  part 
of  a  man  before  he  can  represent  it  with  due 
effect ;  he  must  not  only  have  it,  but  it  must 
have  him.  A  man  who  holds  a  position  under- 
standingly  and  consistently  will  not  be  want- 
ing in  the  psychological  ground  of  his  faith, 
but  is  the  more  irresistible  in  his  conclu- 
sions because  he  has  "the  reason  of  the 
hope"  in  him.  To  illustrate  the  latter  disad- 


16        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

vantage,  a  Calvinist  of  the  psychological  type 
may  accept  or  reject  any  of  the  ''five  points" 
at  will.  He  can  teach  final  perseverance  and 
reject  unconditional  election  or  irresistible 
grace;  or,  he  can  teach  unconditional  elec- 
tion and  reject  limited  atonement,  without 
suffering  a  moment  of  mental  unrest  in  the 
fact  that  he  has  bisected  his  system  and  let 
in  principles  that  cannot  be  assimilated. 
An  eclectic  theologian  is  like  a  nursery- 
man who  tries  to  graft  a  mulberry  branch 
into  a  walnut  stock.  Faith  has  its  psycho- 
logy and  its  logic ;  it  is  not  good  for  these  to 
be  put  asunder  and  one  of  them  to  be  alone. 
The  faith  that  lacks  originality  of  conviction 
is  quite  becoming  and  efficient  in  a  child,  or 
in  one  whose  status  must  needs  be  like  that 
of  a  child.  But  if  it  is  a  faith  worth  pro- 
moting, the  time  is  due  to  come,  in  all  nor- 
mal instances,  when  it  must  be  one's  own, 
by  which  the  fitness  and  unfitness  of  every 
thought  that  is  companion  to  it  will  be  ad- 
judged, and  such  thoughts  accordingly  will 
be  rejected  or  espoused.  Thus  are  we  to  be 
invulnerable  on  the  one  hand  and  irresistible 
on  the  other. 

It  is  not  forgotten  that  bigots  who  ride  a 
hobby  without  any  sense  of  orientation  are 
sometimes  "invulnerable"  and  "irresistible", 
and  that  in  bringing  all  Scripture  to  serve 
their  point  of  contention,  and  repelling  every 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        17 

counsel  that  crosses  their  preachments,  they 
seem  to  illustrate  in  more  immediate  per- 
spective the  thought  developed  in  the 
latter  part  of  this  chapter.  But  they  only 
illustrate  this  thought  as  a  counterfieit  bill 
illustrates  a  genuine.  A  bigot  is  one  whose 
convictions  are  intensive  without  being 
comprehensive;  whose  belief  is  more  in  the 
nature  of  an  obsession,  which  unfits  him  to 
estimate  the  harmonies  of  thought,  puts  a 
temperamental  bias  in  his  exegesis,  and 
tends  to  make  him  intolerant  and  impatient 
of  contradiction.  A  man  is  not  a  bigot  be- 
cause he  maintains  powerful  convictions. 
Something  is  bound  to  be  definitely  true; 
and  when  a  man  has  powerful  convictions 
he  may  be  living  just  where  a  man  ought  to 
live. 


CHAPTER  II. 

EVOLUTION  AND  FAITH. 

If  we  are  permitted  to  assume  some  un- 
certainty in  regard  to  that  doctrine  of  evo- 
lution which  so  largely  holds  the  viewpoint 
of  the  average  author  of  text  books  in 
science  and  philosophy  today,  the  uncertain- 
ty must  transfer  itself  immediately  to  the 
\  new  theology,  and  its  pressure  must  fall 
equally  upon  almost  every  part  of  the  sys- 
tem. We  shall,  therefore,  deem  it  in  keeping 
with  the  unity  of  this  book  to  insert  here 
some  considerations  on  the  status  of  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  down  to  date.  The  ap- 
propriateness of  this  is  more  apparent  when 
we  remember  that  the  new  theology  has 
eliminated  its  departments  on  cosmology  and 
r^  anthropology  and  passed  them  over   to    be 

»  decided  and  explained  as  branches  of  natural 

science,  refusing  to  have  a  voice  in  the  de- 
^  "  cision.  Even  those  not  wholly  committed  to 
the  rationalistic  program  have  adopted  this 
method,*  thus  showing  their  whole-hearted 
faith  in  science  and  in  the  illuminated  judg- 

*F.O'r    illiusttratv;)n    of   this,    see   "An    Outline   of   CihrLstian 
Tbeologv"  by  W-illiam  Newtomi  Clarke;  D.D.,  p.  222  f. 

18 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        19 

ment  of  scientists,  even  upon  questions 
which  are  beyond  the  reach  of  scientific  an- 
alysis. 

That  there  is  something  true  in  evolution 
we  need  not  undertake  to  deny.  But  we 
shall  not  need  to  rehearse  any  arguments  in 
defense  of  this  concession.  As  the  library 
shelves  are  groaning  with  arguments  favor- 
ing evolution  in  its  full  twentieth  century 
connotation,  we  can  afford  to  reserve  the 
space  in  this  book  to  examine  its  weak 
points.  In  recent  years,  a  directly  adverse 
view  has  been  hard  to  find  among  teachers 
of  good  attainment  in  scientific  thought. 
Since  the  last  decades  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  bold  materialism  of  the  doctrine 
has  been  greatly  softened,  and  its  atheistic 
notes  largely  silenced.  Until  it  showed 
these  better  tendencies,  its  influence  among 
theologians  of  the  conservative  school  was 
scarcely  discernible ;  but  in  the  last  third  of 
a  century  the  new  alignment  in  text  books 
and  modes  of  thought  has  been  almost  cat- 
aclysmic in  most  of  the  leading  evangelical 
seminaries.  There  is  an  impressive  para- 
dox in  the  fact  that  "old"  theology  means 
less  than  fifty  years  old  in  evangelical 
Christendom;  that  the  definite  revision  of 
everything  to  match  the  hypothesis  of  evo- 
lution has  proved  to  be  a  veritable  revolu- 
tion.   Some  reasonable  doubt  might  be  pre- 


\ 


20        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

sumed  as  to  the  dependableness  of  a  new 
position  reached  almost  by  stampede  when 
that  new  position  is  so  far  reaching  as  to 
require  the  digging  away  of  materials  which 
but  yesterday  were  unanimously  acknow- 
ledged to  be  the  essential  foundation  of 
Christianity. 

THE  BLENDING  OF  FACT  AND  FICTION. 
The  story  of  biological  evolution,  heard  of, 
is  uninviting;  but  actually  heard,  it  may 
possess  a  hypnotic  charm.  Darwin's  fas- 
cinating style  gave  this  beautiful  fable  a 
momentum  in  thought  by  which  it  has  as- 
sumed the  attributes  of  reality  for  many 
who  write  upon  it  today.  It  has  become  an 
affair  of  the  heart  with  certain  great  schol- 
ars, and  their  primitive  religious  instinct, 
formerly  inhibited  for  want  of  terms  in 
which  to  express  itself,  bursts  forth  in  elo- 
quence as  it  pronounces  its  eureka  over 
what  they  willingly  conclude  to  be  a  har- 
monious, self-consistent  hypothesis.  Enforc- 
ed with  series  for  motion  screens  and  pic- 
ture books,  with  missing  links  filled  in  by 
invention,  showing  the  progress  of  organic 
life  from  a  protozoan  to  a  United  States  Sen- 
ator, evolution  bids  fair  to  become  a  part 
of  the  average  man's  creed  for  several  gen- 
erations. As  a  story  estimated  by  a  stan- 
j  dard  of  facts,  and  taken  from  its  alpha  to 
!  its    omega,     the     evolutionary     hypothesis 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        21 

ranks  half  w^ay  between  Jack  and  the  Bean 
Stalk  and  the  engineering  of  the  pyramids. 
It  is  sustainable  at  certain  points  and  it 
floats  in  the  air  at  other  points.  But  it  is  one 
of  those  departments  of  conception  where 
the  imaginative  easily  fuses  with  the  historic 
and  the  mind  instinctively  gives  historic  re- 
lief to  the  entire  composition. 

Since  the  acceptance  of  evolution  as  a 
principle  in  the  scientific  world  there  has 
been  quite  a  checking  up  and  revision  of 
views,  as  the  specialist  in  physics  showed  a 
doctrine  that  would  not  work,  or  the  special- 
ist in  chemistry  broke  down  an  "explana- 
tion," or  the  specialist  in  astronomy  found 
a  conflicting  fact,  or  the  specialist  in  geology 
made  a  new  survey,  or  the  specialist  in 
biology  became  exceedingly  frank,  or  the 
specialist  in  archaeology  unfolded  yester- 
day's comment  upon  the  "psychozoic"  mil- 
lenniums. Consequently,  the  schools  contain 
no  fifty-year-old  text  books  in  science,  and 
no  scientist  believes  there  will  be  any  fifty- 
year-old  science  texts  in  the  schools  fifty 
years  hence,  or  a  thousand  years  hence. 

The  "old"  science,  fifty  years  ago  or  less, 
believed  in  the  nebular  hypothesis  as  an  ex- 
planation of  the  origin  of  the  solar  system ; 
but  this  was  upset  by  modern  physics,  and 
displaced  by  a  belief  "dynamically  more 
satisfactory,"  that  the  sun  was  the  original 


22        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

posit,*  and  that  a  tidal  disruption  was  caus- 
ed in  the  sun  by  a  passing  star,  and  thus 
were  the  planets  and  asteroids  formed.  This 
is  accepted  as  a  resort,  in  face  of  the  admit- 
ted fact  presented  by  the  specialist  in  math- 
ematics, that  our  sun  has  only  one  chance  in 
1,800  of  having-  been  near  any  star  in  the 
last  billion  years  ;t  but  it  is  conceded  that 
our  sun  may  have  drawn  the  lucky  number. 
Other  difficulties  have  to  be  met  in  this  more 
recent,  and,  we  may  grant,  more  probable 
hypothesis  as  to  how  God  made  the  worlds, 
but  we  will  leave  the  student  to  read  of  these 
elsewhere.  Suffice  to  say  that  this  theory 
had  to  have  a  supplement  in  the  theory  of 
the  ''growth  of  the  earth,"  which  also  is 
plausible,  and  meets  the  requirement  until 
finite  man  can  develop  something  better.  It 
assumes  that  in  the  disruption  of  the  sun  by 
a  passing  star  the  region  between  the  sun 
and  Neptune's  present  orbit  was  filled  with 
material  from  the  size  of  dust  to  the  size  of 
an  asteroid.  That  gradually,  as  conjunc- 
tions of  position  were  favorable,  the  molten 
earth,  through  thousands  or  millions  of 
years,  it  is  not  yet  agreed  which,  grew  from' 

♦■We  ishalil  not  go  baek  to  tihe  more  mythical  phase  of 
the  newer  hypothesis,  -which  traioes  the  oriigin  of  the  hot 
orb  from  eolifl,  dark  materials,  scattered  through  space. 
The  theory  of  tidal  disruption  is  not  'new;  ibut  in  its  re- 
vised state.inent,  as  accepted  today,  it  is  a  recent  annex  to 
sfientiflc  hypothesis. 


tLectui-e  by  Prof.  Joseph  iBarrell,  of  YaJle  University,  in 
'The  Bvolutioni  oif  the  Earth  omd  Its  ImhaMtants",  p.  23. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        23 

about  half  its  present  diameter  and  one- 
eighth  of  its  present  volume,  until  in  its 
heated  condition  it  was  from  two  to  four 
hundred  miles  greater  in  diameter  than  it  is 
today. 

THE  NEW  GEOLOGY. 

It  may  be  profitable  here  to  tabulate  a  list 
of  the  statements,  representing  the  position 
of  the  "newer  geology"  at  this  date  upon  how 
the  present  world  evolved  from  the  situation 
presented  in  the  above  paragraph. 

During  the  molten  condition  of  the  earth, 
the  outer  crust  of  its  substance  where  the 
continents  now  stand  was,  as  it  is  now,  a  lit- 
tle lighter  than  where  the  seas  now  are;* 
and,  before  the  cooling  and  chemical  trans- 
formations which  formed  water,  the  ocean 
beds  sank  and  the  continents  rose.  The  old 
Geology  is  declared  to  be  wrong  in  teaching 
that  continents  have  changed  their  position. 

Volcanic  conditions,  of  which  we  still  have 
small  lingerings,  were  common,  as  the  crust 
formed  and  the  molten  matter  repeatedly 
broke  through  the  increasing  pressure.  This 
condition  continued,  covering  not  less  than 
one-eighth  of  geologic  time.  Possibly  forty 
million  years  after  the  earth  was  "grown." 

In  view  of  the  assumption  that  the  volume 


*The  speciflc  gravity  of  the  beds  of  the  sea  now  averages 
about  three  per  cent  more  than  that  of  the  •continents;  but, 
instead  of  this  causing  the  seas,  imay  it  mot  be  due  to  the 
<;on)den'sin,g,  consolidatijig  effect  of  the  seas? 


24        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

of  water  has  increased,  it  is  believed  that  the 
continents  were  at  one  time  near  twenty-five 
per  cent  larger  than  now.  By  erosion  the 
continents  constantly  flow  out  into  the  sea, 
making  sea  shelves  which  displace  the  water, 
which,  in  turn  flows  over  the  lower  parts  of 
the  continents,  to  find  room  for  its  displaced 
volumes.  Hence  we  have  the  historic  "trans- 
gressions of  the  sea." 

The  earth  has  shrunk  in  diameter  from 
two  hundred  to  four  hundred  miles,  from  six 
to  twelve  hundred  in  its  girth,  since  it 
"grew."  This  has  taken  place  in  epochs,  in- 
cluding several  minor  readjustments  and  at 
least  six  major,  in  which  new  mountain 
ranges  were  formed  and  continents  were  in 
some  instances  literally  lifted  for  miles,  to  be 
dragged  down  through  another  geological 
cycle.  The  time  intervening  between  these 
major  readjustments,  according  to  the  latest 
authorities,  would  seem  to  range  from  ten 
million  to  a  hundred  million  years.  The  cal- 
culation is  based  mainly  upon  the  length  of 
time  necessary  for  the  dissolution  of  rocks, 
to  produce  the  present  percentage  of  salt  in 
the  sea.*  Fifty  or  sixty  miles  must  have 
been  the  aggregate  lift,  as,  according  to  their 
calculation,  this  much  of  continental  crust 
has  been  dissolved  in  the  geological  ages.    It 

*But  iis  it  not  possible  that  the  young  earth  fosteretl 
Immense  mines  of  sodium  chLorid  o-n  Its  orlg-inal  surface? 
If  so,  -would  mot  this  basis  oif  calculation  be  valuelesg? 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        25 

has  not  been  "long,"  possibly  a  few  hundred 
thousand  years,  since  the  last  major  read- 
justment, as  all  of  the  continents  are  now 
"standing  far  higher  above  sea  level  than  has 
been  the  rule  throughout  geologic  time."  The 
ice  ages  have  been  due  to  these  epochal  con- 
tinental elevations  and  the  rarity  of  atmos- 
phere, though  some  admitted  difficulties  re- 
main at  this  point. 

LIFE  PROBLEMS  ARE  DISTINCTIVE. 

Thus  far  in  the  premises  we  are  not  asked 
to  believe  anything  that  violates  any  known 
law  of  nature,  nor  is  it  contrary  to  the  word 
of  God  to  assume  that  matter  and  force  have 
been  in  existence  for  measureless  ages  past. 
Furthermore,  we  do  not  have  a  right  to  fly  in 
the  face  of  facts  and  say  that  there  has  been 
no  evolution  in  the  vegetable  and  animal  sub- 
kingdoms  and  in  human  society;  but  we 
should  not  be  asked  to  ignore  the  equally  po- 
tent law  of  regressive  evolution  and  the  oth- 
er laws  of  spiritual  and  moral  inertia  which 
have  in  all  time  circumscribed  the  human 
race,  excepting  as  we  got  help  direct  from 
our  Maker;  nor  should  any  theory  demand 
our  patronage  when  it  forbids  us  to  heed 
nature's  immutable  proclamation  that  all 
progress  must  be  within  the  impassable 
boundary  lines  of  the  species,  which  we  are 
taught  were  created  by  divine  fiat,  and  the 
denial   of  which   upon   purely  hypothetical 


26        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

grounds  is  intolerable  presumption.  Not 
that  we  would  deny  to  anyone  the  personal 
privilege  of  regaling  himself  with  Darwin- 
ian speculations  upon  the  origin  of  the  spe- 
cies, so  long  as  he  does  not  demand  that  these 
speculations  shall  be  standardized  and  en- 
forced through  educational  channels  as  a 
part  of  the  thought  life  of  our  children,  and 
so  long  as  his  theory  does  not  vaunt  itself  as 
a  militant  opinion,  proposing  destruction  to 
the  religious  faith  which  has  been  the  chief 
factor  in  producing  the  greatest  civilization 
the  world  has  ever  knovni. 

We  are  required  to  grant  that  there  are 
many  more  species  today  than  existed  at  the 
beginning  of  historic  times.  But  these  have 
usually  been  developed,  not  spontaneously, 
but  under  the  direction  of  rational  mind; 
and  they  are  not  species  in  the  fundamental 
sense.  More  species  of  dogs  or  chickens  or 
bugs  or  cabbage  or  melons  simply  means  a 
looser  employment  of  the  term,  which  makes 
a  genus  out  of  the  real  species  and  gives  the 
dignity  of  species  to  various  subspecies 
which  are  not  susceptible  of  having  impassa- 
ble boundaries  created  between  them.  If  a 
Plymouth  Rock  chicken  is  ''species"  number 
one  and  a  game  is  "species"  number  two, 
"species"  number  three  can  be  produced  in 
less  than  a  year,  by  combining  these  and 
obliterating  their  boundary. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        27 

The  origin  of  such  "species,"  therefore, 
has  nothing  to  do  with  evolution  in  the  tech- 
nical use  of  that  word,  but  is  due  to  another 
set  of  laws  in  which  the  time  element  varies, 
and  where  the  word  evolution,  though  often 
used,  is  a  misnomer. 

A  recent  re-reading  of  the  effort  of  great 
scientists  to  account  for  the  origin  of  life  re- 
minds us  that  we  are  no  nearer  the  solution 
of  this  mystery  than  they  were  in  the  days 
of  Aristotle.  The  strained  hypothesis  of 
highly  compounded  chemicals  on  the  bosom 
of  the  warm  sea  water  and  of  life  germs  rid- 
ing in  upon  meteorites  are  discarded  as  un- 
tenable or  as  merely  shifting  the  problem  to 
a  more  remote  shore,  and  the  frank  admis- 
sion is  made  that  the  origin  of  life  is  possi- 
bly involved  in  some  metaphysical  explana- 
tion.* 

HELP  FROM  HIGHER  UP. 

On  the  point  of  regressive  evolution,  nat- 
uralists observe  a  widely  prevailing  uniform- 
ity in  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdom, 
which  expresses  itself  in  the  decline  of  most 
any  species  or  group  left  to  itself,  whether  it 
be  a  patch  of  strawberries  or  a  tribe  of  hu- 
man beings.  They  try  to  account  for  this  in 
such  high  sounding  terms  as  over-specializa- 
tion, but  it  is  a  weird  law  residing  in  mys- 
tery,  a   mute  but   stubborn   answer  to  the 

♦Lecture  on  "The  Origin  of  Life"  by  Prof.  Loranide  Losg 
WoQidruff.     Itiid  p.  86. 


28        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

hasty  conclusions  which  we  find  in  the  specu- 
lative realm  of  science.    It  is  found,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  almost  all  upward  develop- 
ment, illustrative  of  progressive  evolution, 
among  plants,  animals  and  men,  is  due  to 
outside  aid,  supplementing  and  manipulating 
the  potential  laws  embosomed  in  the  species 
or  tribe.    Thus  are  the  finest  fruits,  vegeta- 
bles and  flowers  developed ;  thus  are  the  best 
animals  produced,  and  to  this  do  the  best  il- 
lustrations of  human  civiHzation  owe  their 
existence,  without  a  proved  exception.    The 
Biblical  assumption  is  that  the  pre-Christian 
nations  which  possessed   a  civilization  got 
their  cue  or  contribution:   (1)  from  an  an- 
cestry in  fellowship  with  their  Maker,  or  (2) 
from  a  direct  revelation  of  God,  or  (3)  from 
another  nation  which  got  its  help  in  one  of 
the  two  ways.    We  calculate  that  the  ascent 
which  any  of  them  took  would  have  been  im- 
possible under  nature's  uniformity  as  every- 
where  illustrated  today,   except  there  had 
been  with  them  an  exotic  influence ;  an  agen- 
cy, personal  or  impersonal,  which,  though 
in  them,  was  not  of  them.     Always,  where 
progress  is  the  watchword,  the  creature  has, 
figuratively  or  literally,  an  upward  look ;  the 
look  is  not  backivard,  to  some  metaphysical 
god  of  mystery  that  planted  its  original  seed, 
but  to  an  ever  present  higher  agency,  whose 
intervention  to  water  the  plant  seems  as  es- 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        29 

sential  to  progress  as  was  the  germ  of  the 
original  planting.  That  higher  agency  in  the 
non-rational  universe  is  usually  man;  in  the 
rational  universe  it  is  God,  or  else  it  is  a 
more  advanced  race  or  tribe  who  derived 
their  facilities  of  advancement  directly  or  in- 
directly from  God.  In  the  Christian  centur- 
ies, all  that  is  best  in  human  advancement 
harks  back  to  Jesus  Christ. 

Out  of  the  identity  of  all  protoplasm,  the 
similarity  of  all  cell  life,  the  similarity  of 
blood,  the  similarity  in  the  anatomy  of  cer- 
tain creatures,  and  the  similarity  of  life 
functionings  and  reproduction,  coupled  with 
the  very  skimpy  and  sometimes  contradic- 
tory illustrations  of  the  fossil  world,  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  spontaneous  origin  of  the  spe- 
cies is  composed.  In  estimating  the  length 
of  the  inductive  leap  in  reaching  this  conclu- 
sion men  are  usually  influenced  by  the  at- 
mosphere in  which  they  do  their  thinking. 
That  the  conclusion  does  not  have  a  one  hun- 
dred per  cent  existence  in  the  premises,  that 
an  inductive  leap  is  necessary,  all  serious 
thinkers  will  admit.  Nor  does  a  man  have 
to  live  in  an  atmosphere  of  superstition  and 
ignorance  for  the  leap  to  seem  too  long  to  be 
logical.  All  these  things  prove  the  fact  of 
unity  in  the  source  of  animate  creation,  but 
where  we  employ  the  same  data  to  prove 
the  form  or  method  by  which  that  "Source" 


30        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

gave  us  these  species,  we  must  read  into  our 
data  conclusions  which  are  not  there.  It  is 
entirely  rational  for  us  to  exercise  faith  in 
revelation's  statement  that  God  made  them. 
It  is  not  irreverent  for  man  to  pry  into  the 
modus  operandi  of  creation,  but  he  should 
not  permit  his  prejudice  or  his  irreligious 
predisposition  to  cause  him  to  forget  that  his 
field  is  inevitably  speculative,  for  all  time  to 
come,  that  schemes  have  been  worked  out  in 
other  generations  by  brilliant  minds  who  be- 
came arrogantly  sure  of  their  ground,  but 
that  their  conclusions  are  now  as  grotesque 
to  him  as  his  will  appear  to  scholars  a  few 
generations  hence. 

)    PRACTICAL  RESULTS  OF  THE  THEORY. 

Many  have  undertaken  to  estimate  the 
practical  effect  of  the  doctrine  of  the  sponta- 
neous origin  of  the  species,  when  educated 
society  loses  consciousness  of  its  hypothetical 
character  and  begins  to  confuse  it  with  the 
verified  tenets  of  science. 

First  of  all,  it  exerts  a  super-normal  strain 
on  the  joints  of  human  judgment,  in  those 
students  who  try  at  once  to  hold  on  to  their 
Bibles  and  to  keep  "up  with  the  times."  The 
strain  is  so  great  that  many  yield  their  faith, 
under  their  imagined  necessity  of  surrender- 
ing to  the  decree  of  "science." 

Evolution  as  thus  stated  furnishes  us  a  de- 
cree with  reference  to  the  philosophic  rela- 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        31 

tion  of  all  historic  events,  and  the  origin  of 
all  institutions  of  society,  the  Hebrew  and 
Christian  religion  not  excepted.  This  de- 
cree is  iron  clad,  and  alternatives  or  parallel 
assumptions  can  no  more  be  tolerated  than 
could  a  Quaker  be  admitted  to  heaven  by  a 
strong  advocate  of  baptismal  regeneration. 
Thus  wc  have  a  form  of  "higher  criticism," 
as  discussed  in  another  chapter,  which, 
though  devoutly  accepted  by  some  suscepti- 
ble religious  people  who  would  rather  be 
dead  than  out  of  the  fashion,  was  devised  to 
harmonize  with  the  assumption  that  the  in- 
stitution of  religion  as  represented  in  the  Old 
and  New  Testament  did  not  come  to  man  by 
means  of  divine  revelation,  but  in  the  process 
of  evolution;  which  by  its  own  criterion  of 
consistency  feels  compelled  to  iron  every 
contrary  indication  out  of  Biblical  history 
and  out  of  the  history  of  Biblical  books. 

'■'The  survival  of  the  fittest"  grew  as  a 
theory  out  of  the  doctrine  of  spontaneous 
origins.  Unlike  the  latter,  there  is  much  in 
nature  to  illustrate  it,  if  illustrations  could 
provide  sufficient  proof.  Because  it  is  so 
available  as  a  text  from  which  to  expound  a 
philosophy  of  life,  the  doctrine  of  the  survi- 
val of  the  fittest,  traced  to  its  sequences,  ia 
found  to  be  a  medium  for  raising  evolution 
into  a  working  force.  If  there  is  no  intelli- 
gent providence  presiding  over  the  phenome- 


32        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

na  of  creation,  if  all  the  changes  of  the  nat- 
ural world  are  due  to  an  unfolding  of  ener- 
gies residing  within  the  creature  or  in  na- 
ture, competition  must  be  as  truly  a  law  as  is 
the  unfolding,  and  also  as  sacred.  If  "duty" 
is  merely  another  name  for  compulsory  com- 
pliance with  necessary  law,  and  if  the  strong 
do  compete  successfully  with  the  weak  in  the 
sub-kingdoms  of  vegetation  and  animal  life, 
it  is  the  duty  of  intelligent  beings,  where 
coUision  of  rights  is  threatened,  to  fit  them- 
selves better  than  their  competitors  and  de- 
stroy the  competitors.  If  evolution  of  the 
species  is  true,  evolution  of  politfcal,  social, 
and  religious  institutions  is  also  true;  and 
if  might  was  the  only  argument  for  rights  in 
the  lower  realm  it  must  at  least  be  legiti- 
mately the  final  argument  for  one's  rights  in 
the  higher  realm.  Thus  are  we  brought 
within  a  short  step  of  the  doctrine  that  might 
is  right ;  and,  while  few  leaders  have  permit- 
ted their  lips  to  pronounce  that  doctrine  in 
plain  terms,  some  have  lived  up  to  it ;  and  its 
subtle  influence  in  certain  systems  of  educa- 
tion is  held  by  various  writers*  to  have  en- 
tered into  the  main  causes  of  the  world's 
greatest  war.  There  is  a  way  to  evade  the 
doctrine  that  might  is  right  and  still  hold  the 
doctrine  of  spontaneous  generation.  This  is 
done  by  introducing  the  supremacy  of  the 

••Cf.     "The  Science  of   Power."     By   Benjamin   Kidid ;  p. 
62  fif. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        33 

principle  of  sacrifice  and  service  over  force. 
This  evasion  is  by  a  very  narrow  margin, 
and  is  hardly  valid  without  a  doctrine  of 
divine  interposition ;  but  it  has  produced  a 
distinction  between  the  national  policies  of 
the  Teutonic  and  Anglo-Saxon  peoples. 
While  the  Teutonic  people  have  been  more 
true  to  the  logic  of  the  doctrine  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest,  the  English  speaking 
world  has  escaped  its  worst  consequences 
simply  because  Anglo-Saxons  are  more  prac- 
tical than  logical. 

Only  outside  or  superior  forces  can  pre- 
vent the  operation  of  a  grim  law  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest,  with  its  conclusion  that 
might  is  right.     But  since  we  recognize  ev- 
erywhere the  presence  of  Him  who  controls 
the  wind  and  flood  and  knows  the  sparrow's 
fall,  our  faith  refuses  to  ascribe  the  dignity 
of  a  "law"  to  the  mere  coincidence  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest,  however  replete  may 
be  its  illustrations.    "The  race  is  not  to  the  \ 
swift  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong,  neither  yet    I 
bread  to  the  wise,  nor  yet  riches  to  men  of.  ( 
understanding,  nor  yet  favor  to  men  of  skill ;     a 
but  time  and   'chance'  happeneth  to  them    ' 
all"*  and  "Promotion  cometh  neither  from 
the  east,  nor  from  the  west,  nor  from  the  ' 
south:  but  God  is  the  judge;  he  putteth  down 
one,  and  setteth  up  another."! 

♦Boclesia Sites  9:11. 
tPsalim  75:6,  7. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  GOD  OF  THE  NEW  THEOLOGY. 

"Theistic  evolution"  mu'st  draw  the  line  at 
spontaneous  generation,  with  its  logical  se- 
quence in  religion,  or  blunt  its  perception  of 
truth  and  lose  its  soul.  Current  develop- 
ments are  serving  constantly  to  illustrate  the 
truth  of  this  assertion. 

In  recent  centuries,  many  new  lessons  have 
been  learned  by  reading  the  oracles  of  na- 
ture, God's  other  book.  In  the  light  of  a  fan- 
cied conflict  between  nature  and  revelation 
some  scientists  who  were  not  religiously  in- 
clined have  grown  arrogant ;  and  some 
churchmen  who  were  not  scientifically  in- 
clined have  become  panic  stricken.  The  lat- 
ter was  due  either  to  an  unconscious  weak- 
ness of  faith  in  the  divinity  of  the  Scriptures 
or  a  stupid  assumption  that  there  was  lack 
of  unity  in  the  universe  of  truth.  A  few  de- 
vout patriarchs  thought  that  a  general  belief 
that  the  sun  was  the  center  of  the  solar  sys- 
tem would  send  all  the  Bibles  to  the  garret. 
A  zealous  church  tribunal  wanted  to  ana- 
thematize a  man  when  he  advanced  the  in- 
duction that  the  behavior  of  Uranus  implied 
the  existence  of  an  eighth  planet.    Seven  was 

34 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        35 

a  sacred  number;  and  any  cold  hearted 
worldling  who  disturbed  people  in  this  val- 
uable collateral  of  faith  would  hurt  the  cause 
of  religion  as  well  as  spoil  man's  apprecia- 
tion of  "the  music  of  the  spheres,"  But  the 
discovery  of  Neptune  grew  out  of  this,  and 
the  Christian  faith  stands  firm  as  ever;  and 
the  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  with  a 
majesty  that  fails  not  with  the  flight  of 
years. 

Evolution  in  its  modern  meaning,  as  first 
expounded  in  the  nineteenth  century  by 
Haeckel  and  his  kind,  was  atheistic.  A  cer- 
tain class  of  more  alert  and  sensitive  Chris^ 
tian  thinkers  feared  it  as  an  itinerant  ped- 
dler would  fear  a  prairie  fire.  At  the  first 
challenge  it  seemed  like  a  death  struggle.  To 
the  sanguine  believers  it  would  finally  mean 
the  death  of  an  evolutionary  philosophy;  to 
the  despondent,  the  death  of  Christian 
theistic  faith.  For  a  while,  in  many  circles, 
there  was  no  thought  of  assimilation  or  com- 
promise. But  atheistic  evolution  had  scarce- 
ly begun  to  utter  its  brusque  tones  when  it 
met  with  answers  so  conclusive  that  its 
champions  vanished,  or  lost  the  ear  of  the 
thinking  world,  and  theistic  evolution  was 
accorded  the  courtesies  of  the  arena. 

Apprehensive,  and  not  knowing  just  how 
much  of  their  old  articles  of  faith  would 
have  to  be  dismantled,  an  influential  element 


) 


36        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

of  Christian  scholars  availed  themselves  of 
this  opportunity  to  make  terms  and  conclude 
a  compromise  which  would  enable  them  to 
hold  caste  with  higher  education  in  its  new 
attitude.  Naturally,  there  could  be  no  con- 
cert of  action  among  the  various  segments 
of  Christian  thinkers  to  determine  what  con- 
cessions m.ust  be  made  to  square  up  with 
facts,  or  where  the  line  should  be  drawn  in 
the  interest  of  facts  already  in  their  posses- 
sion. Some  were  like  a  man  unacquainted 
with  the  markets,  trying  in  war  time  to  buy 
a  suit  of  clothes  from  profiteers,  when  its 
actual  value  was  seventy-five  dollars  and  the 
merchant  had  it  marked  five  hundred  dollars. 
After  a  distressing  argument,  the  customer 
agreed  to  a  price  of  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
dollars  and  fifty  cents  and  went  home  with 
a  triumphant  feeling. 

EVOLUTION  AND  PROGRESS  NOT  IDENTICAL. 

A  "theistic  evolution"  that  substitutes  an 
unproved  ascent  of  man  for  the  necessary 
truth  of  divine  creation  must  so  revise  its 
idea  of  God  as  to  make  him  purely  a  creature 
of  the  human  imagination.  It  must  adduce 
a  private  interpretation  of  the  Bible  that 
makes  the  God  of  Genesis  inferior  to  the  God 
of  Paul's  epistles.  It  must  hold  a  theory 
with  reference  to  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures  which  denies  them  the  dignity  of 
a  revelation  from  God  and  makes  each  book 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        37 

of  the  Bible  merely  a  reflection  of  the  age  in 
which  it  was  produced. 

This  is  one  of  several  turns  taken  by  the 
new  theology  which  appear  to  have  some- 
thing in  fact  on  which  to  hang  its  conclu- 
sions. It  is  a  fact  that  the  requirements  of 
divine  law  in  each  succeeding  age  as  repre- 
sented in  the  Bible  are  in  advance  of  the  pre- 
ceding age;  that  divine  judgments  are  ad- 
ministered differently  and  on  a  more  ad- 
vanced plane  in  each  age;  that  in  the  stand- 
ard of  worship  for  the  new  dispensation  the 
appeal  to  the  senses  by  symbols  of  faith  is 
at  a  minimum,  and  spiritual  excellencies  take 
the  place  of  material  splendor;  that  in  each 
era  God  seems  to  have  been  bringing  the  hu- 
man custodians  of  his  revelation  steadily  to 
the  advanced  plane  which  should  character- 
ize the  age  ahead  of  them. 

These  are  facts  which  lend  themselves  to 
the  imagination  of  those  already  convinced 
that  man  ascended  from  the  level  of  lower 
animals,  and  that  the  ages  of  biological  his- 
tory contain  some  kind  of  tropic  of  cancer  or 
Capricorn  marking  his  passage  into  the 
estate  of  a  human  being,  at  which  time, 
whether  gradually  or  in  the  presence  of  some 
august  ceremony,  man's  "Maker"  imparted 
to  him  a  living  soul.  This  extraordinary  fea- 
ture has  to  be  injected  into  the  scheme  of 
evolution  by  those  who  would  unite  Chris- 


38        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

tianity  and  spontaneous  origins;  a  thing 
which  must  be  very  amusing  to  the  non- 
Christian  evolutionist,  and  a  position  so  inar- 
ticulate in  itself  that  it  affords  a  stumbling- 
stone  ,  causing  many  a  new  theologian  to 
"backslide"  during  his  study  of  functional 
psychology,  and  cease  from  trying  to  cor- 
relate his  "science"  and  his  "religion." 

JEHOVAH,  THE  SAME  IN  EVERY  AGE. 
A  fuller  consideration  of  the  evolutionist's 
assumption  that  each  book  of  the  Bible  is  a 
reflection  of  the  age  in  which  it  is  written 
will  be  given  in  our  chapter  on  the  "Authori- 
ty of  the  Bible" ;  but  we  will  here  take  time  to 
observe  that  the  Scriptures,  when  intelli- 
gently interpreted,  furnish  no  support  for 
the  statement  that  our  idea  of  God  is  evolved. 
The  Bible  professes  the  very  opposite.  Man 
is  represented  as  getting  his  idea  of  God 
from  God  himself,  by  direct  revelation.  That 
man,  because  of  sin,  was  slow  to  apprehend 
God's  will  or  comprehend  his  attributes  is 
recognized  throughout,  and  that  a  "lost"  race 
was  dealt  with  on  its  own  plane,  borne  with, 
instructed,  and  brought  forward  from  one 
dispensation  to  another  on  progressive 
scales,  is  an  express  admission  which  the  Bi- 
ble makes.  But  it  requires  a  most  cunning 
invention  to  show  that  the  standards  and 
methods  of  the  succeeding  eras  prove  dif- 
ferences in  God  and  set  forth  the  evolution 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        39 

of  the  idea  of  God.  The  God  who  winked  at 
men's  errors  in  the  times  of  their  ignorance* 
held  the  same  standards  then  that  he  did 
when  he  commanded  all  men  everywhere  to 
repent.  While  ceremonial  laws,  with  pro- 
found objects  of  tuition  and  discipline,  were 
made  to  vary  with  the  centuries,  one  will 
seek  in  vain  for  a  fundamental  moral  law  in 
the  New  Testament  that  is  annulled  by  di- 
vine approval  in  the  Old.  The  New  Testa- 
ment goes  deeper  into  the  inner  meaning  of 
the  law  as  revealed  in  the  Old,  but  it  is  ab- 
surd to  say  that  this  is  due  to  an  improve- 
ment in  God.  The  Old  Testament  in  its 
frank,  unvarnished  record  gives  account  of 
specific  sins  or  persistent  low  standards  in 
some  men  w'ho  worshipped  God,  and  some- 
times fails  to  record  God's  disapproval;  but 
the  absence  of  such  a  record  would  not  mean 
anything  unless  a  man  had  a  theory  to  take 
care  of.  The  fact  that  men  escaped  chal- 
lenge in  Old  Testament  times  with  sins  for 
which  they  were  rejected  in  New  Testament 
times  means  nothing  but  that  they  had  more 
light  in  the  latter  period. 

The  changing  character  of  divine  judg- 
ments in  succeeding  dispensations  is  thought 
by  many  to  support  the  evolutionary  view, 
and  has  presented  difficulties  for  honest 
souls  who  have  taken  no  interest  in  the  evo- 


*Acts  17:30. 


40        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

lutionist's  contention.  Outstanding  among 
these  difficulties  are  the  use  of  God's  people 
to  execute  judgments  upon  perverse  nations; 
the  ehmination  of  entire  families,  including 
children,  by  judicial  or  military  execution ; 
the  imprecations  or  curses  upon  the  enemy 
as  we  find  them  pronounced  in  the  Psalms. 
All  this,  we  are  reminded,  has  much  in  com- 
mon with  the  customs  of  the  nations  general- 
ly in  those  days. 

We  shall  not  try  to  handle  this  to  the  sat- 
isfaction of  those  who  do  not  believe  in  di- 
vine judgments.  Our  point  will  be  that  the 
King  and  Judge  of  this  universe,  as  revealed 
then  and  now,  has  undergone  no  change  ex- 
cept in  the  methods  and  agencies  employed. 
His  view  of  death  is  different  from  ours. 
With  him,  the  passing  of  a  child  or  an  inno- 
cent victim  of  other  people's  sins  may  take 
place  appropriately,  accompanied  by  violence 
or  suffering,  which  in  itself  may  carry  a  re- 
flex ministration  that  we  cannot  fathom ;  but 
for  which  no  doubt  he  has  provided  compen- 
sations that  we  fail  also  to  understand.  The 
souls  of  the  children  who  were  torn  by  bears 
after  they  had  laughed  in  derision  at  the  re- 
ported ascension  of  Elijah,*  and  sportingly 
challenged  Elisha  to  "Go  up,  thou  bald 
head,"  were  in  better  keeping  than  if  they 

*2  Kings  2:24. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        41 

had  remained  under  the  nurture  of  parents 
who  had  instilled  such  sentiments  in  them. 

We  grant  that  it  is  hard  in  our  day  for  one 
to  see  how  God's  chosen  people  could  have 
been  used  as  his  chastening  scourge,  as  he 
now  uses  storm,  earthquake,  or  pestilence, 
without  involving  hurt  to  themselves.  Per- 
haps it  was  possible  then,  but  a  decided  ad- 
vance in  human  sensibilities  calls  for  a  dif- 
ferent economy  now.  It  still  remains  a  fact, 
however,  that  God  believes  in  death,  and  that 
he  takes  people  from  the  earth  sometimes  by 
special  dispensations,  of  an  exceeding  sad 
character,  for  administrative  reasons.  But 
there  is  one  identity  in  his  law  for  all  dis- 
pensations, namely,  he  teaches  us  to  hold  sa- 
cred the  person  of  our  fellow  man ;  and,  out- 
side of  the  execution  of  a  direct  judgment, 
conferring  Jehovah's  own  prerogative  of  life 
and  death,  his  law  at  all  times  has  forbidden 
the  taking  of  human  life. 

THE  PSALMS  OF  JUDGMENT  ARE  IMPERSONAL. 

A  few  suggestions  and  illustrations  for  in- 
terpreting the  Psalms  which  pronounce  a 
curse  upon  the  enemy  may  help  some  honest 
soul  to  see  that  no  theory  of  a  change  in  God 
is  necessary,  but  that  we  can  identify  in 
these  excellent  expressions  of  the  ancient 
worshipper  the  same  Jehovah  whose  ethics 
shine  through  the  sermon  on  the  mount  and 
the  twelfth  chapter  of  Romans.    A  compari- 


42        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

son  of  Hebrews  3:7  with  the  95th  Psalm,  be- 
ginning at  the  seventh  verse,  will  show  that 
in  the  estimation  of  the  New  Testament  the 
Psalms  represent  the  utterances  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  rather  than  the  individual  sentiment 
or  animosity  of  the  persons  who  penned 
them.  If  we  read  Psalm  129,  a  judgment 
Psalm,  and  note  carefully  verse  one  in  con- 
nection with  the  Psalm,  we  will  observe  that 
the  language  is  put  in  the  mouth  of  Israel, 
and  that  the  judgment  is  pronounced  upon 
the  nation's  foes  instead  of  some  one  against 
whom  the  Psalmist  has  a  personal  grudge. 
It  may  always  be  safely  assumed  that  the 
judgments  are  prophetic,  and  imply  no  in- 
dorsement of  personal  revenge.  If  the  new 
theologian  thinks  that  the  God  of  the  thir- 
teenth of  1st  Corinthians  had  not  evolved  in 
the  Old  Testament,  and  that  emulators  of  Je- 
hovah could  not  think  in  terms  of  non-resis- 
tance, he  ought  to  review  those  instances,  so 
full  of  pathosi,  where  David  had  Saul  repeat- 
edly in  his  own  hand  and  spared  his  life.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  David  wrote  some 
of  these  imprecatory  Psalms,  yet  it  may  be 
safely  said  that  in  all  his  wonderful  life  he 
never  resented  personal  insults  or  permit- 
ted a  man  to  be  harmed  for  wronging  him 
when  it  was  purely  a  personal  matter.  But 
when  it  came  to  the  defense  of  Israel,  or  the 
execution   of  what  he  understood  to  be  a 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        43 

righteous  judgment  of  God,  no  man  could 
stand  before  him,  and  no  personal  feeling 
could  prevent  the  firmness  of  his  hand.  At 
times  the  Holy  Spirit  represents  Christ  as 
speaking  in  the  Psalms,  and  the  enemies 
mentioned,  instead  of  being  enemies  of  the 
inspired  writer,  or  even  of  Israel,  are  ene- 
mies of  Christ.  An  illustration  of  this  will 
be  found  in  the  86th  Psalm,  the  ninth  verse 
of  which  directs  special  attention  to  our 
point. 

paganism's  derelict  conception  of  god. 

Outside  of  revealed  religion,  the  "progres- 
siveness"  of  the  idea  of  God  is  a  pure  inven- 
tion. Just  as  plants  and  animals  of  higher 
grade  deteriorate  when  left  to  themselves, 
just  as  man  also  when  left  without  help  from 
the  outside  goes  down  hill  instead  of  up  in 
civilization  and  the  scale  of  being,  just  as 
animate  nature  commonly  illustrates  the  ab- 
sence of  any  law  of  advancement  within  it- 
self, tending  more  to  regressive  than  to  pro- 
gressive evolution,  so  the  religions  of  the 
world  as  observed  in  historic  times  usually 
fail  to  show  any  improvement  in  their  idea 
of  deity,  excepting  as  they  catch  reflections 
from  Christianity.  Indeed  there  is  good 
reason  to  infer  that  many  of  the  great  hu- 
man religions  have  had  nobler  ideas  of  God, 
but  have  lost  them  through  this  universal 
downward  tendency.     Zoroastrianism,  the 


44        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

religion  of  Cyrus  the  Persian,  shows  its  evo- 
lution in  Parseeism  today.  Tangora  ,  the 
Polynesian  deity,  is  an  illustration  of  the 
same  tendency  to  decline  in  human  ideals  of 
deity.  Proof  is  very  scarce  for  the  conten- 
tion that  the  idea  of  deity  even  among  the 
crudest  barbarians  is  v^holly  the  product  of 
evolution.  Among  the  various  heathen  re- 
ligions of  the  world  evidences  are  frequently 
found  that  they  have  witnessed  better  days, 
with  a  higher  instead  of  a  lower  conception 
of  deity,  and  some  possess  traces  that  make 
it  entirely  reasonable  to  assume  that  in  the 
remote  past  their  ancestry  had  in  some  de- 
gree a  knowledge  of  the  true  God. 

NEW  THEOLOGY  NOT  THEISTIC. 

The  new  theology  in  its  doctrine  of  God  is 
unwilling  to  be  identified  with  deism,  which 
separates  God  from  his  universe;  a  philoso- 
phy which  so  frankly  challenged,  instead  of 
trying  to  swallow,  Christianity  two  hundred 
years  ago.  It  boasts  a  more  modem  par- 
entage on  the  scientific  side.  It  insists  that 
it  is  not  against  Christianity  as  were  the 
deists,  but  that  it  is  Christianity  in  the  most 
highly  evolved  form,  the  only  form  that  can 
stand  the  full  exposure  of  the  rays  of  scien- 
tific light.  It  denies  the  charge  of  plagiar- 
ism, and  does  not  think  it  in  any  sense  con- 
stitutes a  case  of  history  repeating  itself,  - 
though  many  of  us  who  have  escaped  the  in-      '  ^ 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        45 

fatuation  of  the  new  theology  think  that  his- 
tory is  replete  with  instances  of  conclusions 
and  modes  of  apprehension  which  answer  to 
what  the  new  theology  is  now  giving  us. 

While  the  new  theology  identifies  itself  as 
theistic,  we  make  the  point  that  a  system 
which  denies  all  supernaturalism  is  not 
theistic*  Suppose  God  did  ordain  the  for- 
ces. The  conservation  of  energy  forms  a 
closed  circuit;  it  is  held  by  all  who  do  not 
spoil  the  system  with  ill  fitting,  antiquated 
doctrine,  that  the  original  deposit  of  the 
Creator  held  all  the  laws  and  potentialities 
necessary  to  the  unfolding  of  the  present 
order,  and  much  beyond  this.  It  therefore 
follows  that  God  answers  prayer  by  immuta- 
ble laws  reposed  in  nature  millions  of  years 
before  the  prayers  are  uttered;  that  the 
special  providences  in  which  the  Bible 
abounds,  and  in  which  evangelical  Chris- 
tians delight  as  a  warm  token  of  God's  near- 
ness, were  timed  by  law  in  the  beginning  of 
the  ages;  that  miracles  are  the  operation  of 
natural  laws  for  which  there  is  no  visible  ex- 
planation, and  never  an  interception  of  Him 
who  presides  over  his  universe;  that  indeed 
he  does  not  preside ;  that  his  immanence  con- 


*"Without  a  iSU'pernatupal  providence  we  islnk  irnto  the 
bleakness  of  deism,  and  might  as  well  sink  into  material- 
IsiDi  or  pantheism.  Theism  ds  supernaturalism.  If  there 
is  a  personal  G-od  there  Is  a  isnperniatural  providence." 
"Systematic  Theoloig-.y,"  by  John  Miley,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Vol.  I, 
p.  1'36. 


46        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

sists  in  the  fact  that  he  is  inseparably  iden- 
tified with  nature,  operating  with  unaltera- 
ble regularity  through  its  channels,  as  he  or- 
dained them  in  the  beginning  of  the  ages. 

And  so  we  find  in  much  of  our  modern  re- 
ligious literature  the  innate  religious  nature 
of  man,  bursting  forth  in  primitive  form, 
treating  the  phenomena  of  nature  as  mani- 
festations of  God  and  referring  to  them  in 
terms  of  worship  which  belong  to  a  personal 
God.*  They  do  not  worship  these  forces  of 
nature  as  if  some  immanent  deity  were 
slightly  hidden  in  their  bosom  awaiting  the 
homage  of  man,  but  it  is  easy  to  believe  they 
are  traveling  the  same  road  of  decline  from 
true  theistic  faith  that  was  traveled  by  the 
ancestors  of  the  sun  and  moon  and  nature 
worshippers  of  the  great  prehistoric  civili- 
zations. It  will  not  be  understood  that  we 
are  apathetic  in  our  attitude  to  nature.  The 
proper  appreciation  of  nature  brings  man 

*"A  flre-mist  and  a  planet, 

A  crystal  and  a  cell, 
A  jelly-flish  and  a  saurian, 

And  caves  Tvihere  ttbe  cave-men  dwell. 
Then  a  sie^nise  of  law  of  beauty, 

And  a  face  turned  from  tbe  clod — 
iSome  call   it  Evolution, 

And  others  call  it  Gad. 

"A  haze  on  the  far  ihorizon. 

The  infinite,  lender   sky. 
The  ripe,  rich  tints  of  tJhe  cornfields, 

And    the   wild    geese   isadling  'bigh. 
And  all  over  upland  and  lol^^'land 
Tihe  cfhiarra   of  the   goldenrod — 
ISome  of  us  call  it  Autuimn, 
And   others  call   it  Goid." 
Fro.m  poem,  "Each  In  His  Oiwn  Tongue" ;  by  Wm.  Herbert 
Carruth. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        47 

closer  to  his  Creator.  Our  criticism  is  di- 
rected at  the  class  of  homilies  now  popular 
in  some  circles  which  would  make  a  pious 
play  into  the  adoration  of  nature  to  escape 
all  assumptions  of  the  supernatural;  which 
would  offer  nature's  phenomena  as  a  substi- 
tute for  the  consolations  of  the  Christian  as- 
surance that  God  in  his  providence  presides 
personally  over  his  universe  every  moment. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  "DIVINE  IMMANENCE." 

A  generation  ago  a  certain  class  of  writers 
gave  form  to  what  they  deemed  a  better  ap- 
prehension of  God.  Their  conception  was 
expressed  in  the  words,  "Divine  immanence" 
or  "the  immanence  of  God."  The  literature 
of  Tennyson  and  other  beautiful  writers,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  inculcated  the 
view  ;*  and  no  doubt  it  has  served  as  a  spir- 
itual tonic  in  the  meditations  of  many  aes- 
thetic souls.  It  has  put  a  new  beauty  and 
majesty  in  all  of  nature,  and  induced  a  spirit 
of  reverence  in  all  who  caught  the  idea. 

This  doctrine  of  divine  immanence  has 
'been  appropriated  by  the  new  theology.  It 
fits  admirably  into  the  system ;  and,  while  it 
does  not  assert  itself  pro  or  con  upon  the 

*Dark  is  tlio  AvorkI  to  thee:   rtiyse'lf  art  b'lie   reason  wliiv  ; 
For  is  He  not  all  hut  thiou,  ttoa't  hasit  ipowpr  to  feel  "I  am  I"? 
****** 

Speak   to    Him   thou    for  He  'hears,   aind   Spirit  with  Spirit 

can   lueet — 
Closer  is   He  than   breathinig,   and   nearer   than  .hiands   and 

feet. 

—The  Hiigher  Pantheism,  by  .\jlfred,  Lord  Temniyson. 


48        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

subject  of  miracle  and  supernatural  provi- 
dence, it  prepares  the  way  for  the  new  theo- 
logian's adverse  position,  in  which  he  is  free 
to  do  away  with  the  supernatural  by  overdo- 
ing it  or  resolving  everything  into  the  super- 
natural.    It  is  like  the  argument  that  if  a 
man  gives  all,  he  does  not  need  to  give  the 
tenth ;  if  he  keeps  every  day  holy,  he  does  not 
need  to  keep  the  Sabbath.     So  great  is  the 
subtlety  that  some  of  the  most  orthodox  be- 
lievers have  taken  to  it  ardently.     The  late 
Methodist  philosopher,  Dr.  Borden  P.  Bowne, 
in  his  book,  "The  Immanence  of  God,"  quotes 
an  illustration  from  that  ultra  champion  of 
orthodoxy,  the  Sunday  School  Times,  to  show 
the  homology  of    miracle  under  natural  law. 
A  young  man  looks  into  a  clear  pool  which 
portrays  an  acorn  as  it  falls  on  the  landscape 
and,   while  he  gazes  at  the  reflection,  the 
acorn  bursts,  sprouts,  springs  into  a  sapling, 
and  then  a  massive  oak.     The  observer  ex- 
claims that  this  is  a  miracle ;  but  his  instruc- 
tor awakens  him  to  the  fact  that  he  has  lost 
his  sense  of  time.     That  eighty  years  have 
flown  since  he  began  to  gaze  in  the  pool,  and 
that  his  hair  and  beard  are  long  and  gray 
and  his  garments  are  threadbare  and  rotten. 
Then   the  observer  recalls     his  words,  and 
says,  It  is  no  miracle,  it  is  only  nature.    The 
conclusion  they  draw  is  that  miracle  is  na- 
ture in  the  role  of  the  unusual,  but  that  na- 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        49 

ture  in  the  usual  with  its  sunrise,  sunset, 
and  bud  and  blossom,  is  just  as  truly  miracu- 
lous, as  truly  the  work  of  God.  It  is  divine 
activity  all  the  same,  whether  mediated  or 
not.*  "The  presence  of  God  in  nature,"  says 
Dr.  Bowne,  "does  not  mean  that  God  is  here 
and  there  in  the  world  performing  miracles, 
but  that  the  whole  cosmic  movement  de- 
pends constantly  upon  the  divine  will  and  is 
an  expression  of  the  divine  purpose."!  Me- 
diaeval Calvinism  had  a  way  of  making  ev- 
ery miracle  and  supernatural  providence, 
along  with  the  ordinary  phenomena  of  life, 
part  of  a  stereotyped  plan  laid  out  by  the  Al- 
mighty, with  drastic  precision,  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  With  them,  God 
does  everything,  and  moral  agency,  in  men 
and  angels,  is  an  illusion.  The  more  sane 
champions  of  this  view  did  not  contend  that 
the  divine  activity  in  history  was  unmedia- 
ted;  but  a  more  fanatical  subdivision  of  the 
fatalistic  view,  under  the  doctrine  of  Occa- 
sionalism, taught  that  God  caused  the  fall  of 
every  rain  drop  and  the  bursting  of  every 
bud,  by  an  act  of  his  will,  and  that  he  thus 
actuated  every  event,  including  the  ordinary 
movements  of  the  human  body.  This  was 
mysticism,  denatured  by  being  carried  furth- 
er in  the  direction  of  its  own  excess. 


*"Tbe  Immanence  of  God,"  by  Borden  P.  Bowne;  p.  48. 
(IMd.     p.  43. 


50        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

Indeed  every  new  error  of  our  age  is  an 
old  error  dressed  in  modern  clothes.  The 
subtle  fallacy  which  gives  standing  to  the 
doctrine  of  divine  immanence  today  finds 
good  soil  for  growth  in  the  group  psychology 
of  two  classes :  the  theological  sons  of  the  old 
ultra  Calvinists  who  have  a  left  over  meas- 
ure of  the  momentum  of  middle  age  theology, 
showing  itself  in  their  notion  of  providence 
and  the  supernatural;  then  the  rationalists 
of  the  scientific  world,  who,  if  they  must  tol- 
erate God,  are  only  content  to  make  his  per- 
sonality at  present  as  meaningless  a/s  possi- 
ble, and  if  they  must  grant  that  he  caused 
anything,  let  it  be  understood  that  he  was 
the  first  cause,  but  that  with  the  initiation 
of  the  world  order  his  freedom  ended,  so  that 
now  he  is  restricted  merely  to  the  upkeep  of 
the  system  he  caused,  without  freedom  to  de- 
viate from  any  course  laid  down  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  Indeed  such  free- 
dom is  not  needed  under  this  scheme  of  de- 
terminism. All  this  is  very  bald  unless  we 
feature  it  with  the  fond  embellishments  of 
the  divine  immanence,  as  conceived  in 
Bowne's  philosophy  and  Tennyson's  poetry. 
Yet  when  one  has  soared  in  these  heavens  of 
Bowne  and  Tennyson  he  must  sometimes 
light  to  meditate  upon  the  distinctions  be- 
tween divine  providence  and  natural  law. 
Dr.    Bowne    grapples    with    this    in    these 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        51 

words:  "An  opportune  storm,  a  drouth  or 
flood,  a  good  or  bad  harvest,  an  outbreak  of 
an  epidemic  would  he  far  more  significant 
to  many  than  the  greatest  mental  and  moral 
progress  of  society."*  "Sometimes  the  his- 
torical crisis  is  such,  and  the  co-working  of 
complex  factors  so  marked  that  we  seem  to 
he  aware  of  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends. 
Then  we  speak  of  a  guiding  or  overruling 
Providence.  But  commonly  life  runs  on  in 
the  familiar  routine,  and  we  seem  left  to  our 
own  judgment  to  find  the  way.  At  such  times 
we  have  nothing  to  say  of  Providence.  But 
it  is  clear  that  the  only  difference  is  that 
sometimes  the  divine  purpose  seems  mani- 
fest, while  at  other  times  it  is  hidden."* 

If  we  admit  that  there  is  a  third  factor  in 
the  world,  due  to  a  doctrine  of  moral  agency 
in  men  and  angels,  good  and  evil, — if  there- 
fore we  admit  that  God  has  a  set  of  laws 
dealing  with  persons  instead  of  forces,  it  is 
our  privilege  to  expect  interceptions  of  the 
divine  Ruler,  to  meet  situations  which  may 
arise.  We  may  not  always  be  able  to  distin- 
guish these  interceptions,  because  of  their 
resemblance  to  natural  events.  If  there  are 
circumstances  connected  with  the  "oppor- 
tune storm,  drought  or  flood"  which  afford 
proof  that  there  has  been  a  special  intercep- 


*I.tiicl.     p.  45. 
»I.bid.     p.  53. 


52        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

tion  of  the  divine  hand  it  is  quite  proper  to 
attach  peculiar  significance  to  it,  and  out  of 
place  to  confuse  the  value  of  a  providential 
manifestation  by  making-  an  invidious  com- 
parison between  it  and  some  great  general 
order  like  ''the  mental  and  moral  progress  of 
society."  It  would  be  easy  thus  to  chide  peo- 
ple with  the  charge  of  misplaced  emphasis, 
but  it  is  quite  as  intelligent  as  it  is  human 
for  us  to  be  eager  in  such  events  to  get  a 
glimpse  of  God ;  and  no  man  is  a  true  theist, 
and  no  man  has  his  orientation  as  a  student 
of  the  Bible,  who  says  that  the  speech  uttered 
by  the  flowers  and  sunshine  and  recurring 
seasons  constitutes  as  much  of  a  manifesta- 
tion of  God  as  does  an  obvious  providence  or 
a  direct  answer  to  prayer,  in  which  we  see 
the  workings  of  a  sympathetic,  personal 
God.  This  is  proved  in  the  fact  that  atheism 
and  its  slightly  less  pernicious  allies  of  pan- 
theism, deism  and  polytheism  have  never 
found  it  necessary  to  break  camp  under  na- 
ture's manifestations  of  God,  whereas,  the 
slogan  of  the  supernatural,  with  its  creden- 
tialed  prophets,  its  divided  Jordans,  its  an- 
swered prayers,  its  risen  Lord  and  its  reveal- 
ed Bible,  has  caused  whole  nations  to  recog- 
nize God. 

If  our  chapter  may  descend  to  a  criticism 
we  should  say  that  Dr.  Bowne  hands  every- 
thing over  to  rationalism  when  he  says:  "It 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        53 

is  clear  that  the  only  difference  is  that  some- 
times the  divine  purpose  seems  manifest, 
while  at  other  times  it  is  hidden."  Putting 
divine  providence  everywhere  is  equivalent 
fo  putting  it  nowhere,  in  our  system  of  teach- 
ing. Just  as  extreme  socialism,  which  makes 
government  everything,  becomes  identical 
with  anarchism,  which  makes  government 
nothing;  just  as  two  men  traveling  in  oppo- 
site directions  to  get  as  far  apart  as  possible 
will  finally  arrive  in  the  same  neighborhood, 
the  divine  immanence  people  and  the  deists, 
when  the  former  have  worked  their  logic  to  a 
finish,  give  us  a  teaching  identical  in  its  ef- 
fect, however  much  the  one  may  sing  their 
pious  anthems  and  denounce  the  wickedness 
of  the  other. 

No  finite  man  can  comprehend  how  mani- 
fold and  how  vast  are  the  forces  in  this 
world  aside  from  the  chemical  and  mechani- 
cal, which,  except  as  God  restrains,  checks 
or  overrules,  may  shorten  human  lives,  de- 
stroy souls,  or  spoil  nations.  These  forces 
are  explained  by  the  multitude  of  spiritual 
and  human  intelligence  which  surround  our 
glob-?.  Personality  and  free  agency  have 
never  been  understood,  but  it  is  too  late  in 
the  day  to  ignore  them.  In  denying  or  ignor- 
ing them,  the  theologian  takes  himself  back 
to  the  middle  ages,  and  the  scientist  buries 
his  head  in  the  sand.     The  true  and  living' 


54        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

God  is  he  that  upholds  all  things  by  the  word 
of  his  power;  who  presides  over  all  the 
forces,  known  and  unknown  to  us,  and  who 
must  reign  till  all  enemies  are  under  his 
feet.* 

Our  position  is,  that  if  we  exempt  the  new 
theology  from  being  classified  under  deism, 
it  must  be  identified  as  a  modern  form  of 
pantheism.  Pantheism  holds  that  the  uni- 
verse is  God,  that  it  evolved  or  emanated 
from,  him,  and  that  in  all  its  phases  it  is 
simply  a  manifestation  of  him,  a  part  of  him. 
Essentially,  that  is  the  position  of  the  new 
theology.  However,  in  its  practical  work- 
ings, the  absence  of  an  intensely  religious 
spirit  and  of  all  tendencies  to  fetish  devo- 
tion would  seem  to  save  the  new  theologians 
from  classification  under  pantheism;  but 
since  the  universe  of  creatures  which  are 
capable  of  some  conception  of  divine  being 
is  included  under  the  five  heads  of  theism, 
pantheism,  deism,  polytheism  and  atheism, 
we  shall  have  to  ask  these  brethren  to  choose 
their  position  under  pantheism  or  deism. 


*1  CorintJilans  15:25. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  NEW  THEOLOGY. 

There  are  just  two  great  generic  truths  in 
the  universe  of  thought;  Creation  and  Sal- 
vation. Almost  every  other  topic  with 
which  man  has  to  reckon  may  be  classified  as 
to  its  subject  matter  under  one  of  these 
heads.  The  position  upon  either  of  these 
questions  will  have  almost  everything  to  do 
with  our  body  of  doctrine  as  a  whole,  pro- 
vided we  are  coherent.  None  can  deny  the 
ills  of  life  and  the  evils  of  the  world ;  but  he 
who  contrives  a  scheme  of  creation  without 
God  will  most  certainly  devise  a  plan  of  re- 
demption without  God,  usually  having  theo- 
rized t?ie  world's  ills  into  as  mild  a  form  as 
rhetoric  and  analogy  can  effect,  extenuat- 
ing sin  and  abolishing  Satan.  Again,  he 
who  reduces  to  a  minimum  the  divine  ele- 
ment in  creation  will  reduce  to  a  minimum 
the  divine  element  in  redemption. 

The  scientific  mind  wishes  to  conceive  the 
universe  in  as  simple  a  form  as  possible.  It 
shrinks  from  ascribing  complexity  to  any  of 
its  data ;  but  whatever  the  complexities  of  a 
problem,  the  tendency  is  to  revolt  against 
the  supernatural.     All  things   must  be  re- 

55 


56        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

garded  as  belonging  to  a  closed  system, 
whose  laws  articulate  with  nature's  other 
laws,  admitting  no  exotic  forces.  If  it  finds 
something  that  fits  none  of  its  classifications 
and  answers  to  none  of  its  known  laws,  it 
reacts  to  that  something  as  to  the  nearest 
resembling  familiar  object;  as  did  the  coun- 
tryman who  drank  out  of  the  finger  bowl. 
This  is  not  a  fact  peculiar  to  the  scientific 
mind ;  it  shows  rather  that  in  a  more  refined 
and  lofty  fashion  a  law  that  inheres  in  the 
psychology  of  the  illiterate  persists  in  the 
mind  of  the  world's  scholars.  Obedient  to 
this  bent  of  nature,  leaders  of  thought  in  ev- 
ery century  have  been  trying  to  interpret  the 
person  of  Christ  and  fix  a  self-consistent  es- 
timate of  him  without  the  aid  of  faith,  not- 
withstanding the  statement  of  his  greatest 
disciple  that  he  cannot  be  properly  estimated 
except  in  the  realm  of  the  supernatural.* 
Science  has  no  articles  of  faith.  The  mo- 
ment it  enters  the  realm  of  faith  it  becomes 
philosophy.  But  nearly  all  scientists  are 
philosophers;  and,  in  our  day,  nearly  all 
philosophers  expect  to  be  listed  as  scientists. 
Modern  philosophy  has  articles  of  faith  with 
reference  to  subjects  beyond  the  reach  of  in- 
vestigation, if  the  removal  be  in  time  or 
space ;  but  it  has  no  place  for  either  the  pre- 
ternatural or  the  supernatural. 

*"No   man  can   say   that  Jesus   is  the  Liord,   but  by  the 
H'>ly   Spirit."     1  Corinthians  12:3. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        57 

HISTORIC    ERRORS    CONTRASTED. 

During  apostolic  times,  the  person  of 
Christ  was  disparaged  by  scholars  outside  of 
Jewish  circles,  not  because  of  its  supernat- 
ural challenge,  but  because  they  were  averse 
to  giving  preeminent  recognition  to  a  Jew. 
The  over  confidence  which  belongs  to  a  peo- 
ple who  have  made  vast  conquest  of  the  ele- 
ments and  laws  of  nature  did  not  belong  to 
that  age.  A  few  Greeks  were  slightly  af- 
fected with  this,  but  usually  all  were  dis- 
posed to  admit  the  existence  of  a  class  of  un- 
solvable  data.  With  the  Jews  who  were  un- 
friendly to  Christ  he  was  disparaged  because 
of  his  Galilean  origin  and  other  particulars 
aside  from  a  sober  estimate.  The  early 
Christian  Jews  did  not  get  their  conception 
of  Christ  from  a  sound  interpretation  of 
Isaiah  and  the  other  prophets,  but  from; 
the  sectarian  interpretation  of  their  time, 
which  recognized  his  Messiahship  [to  the 
Jews  and  failed  to  see  him  as  the  world's  Re- 
deemer, the  Mediator  between  God  and  man. 
The  facts  were  placed  before  them  by  the 
Master  in  the  early  part  of  his  ministry,  and 
they  were  permitted  gradually  to  develop  in- 
to the  true  apprehension  of  him.  Peter's 
"coinfession"t  was  the  result  of  extended  ob- 
servation, sober  reflection  and  divine  revela- 
tion.    Instead  of  being  forced  out  of  a  pre- 

f'Thou  art  the  Clrrist,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."     Mat- 
thew 16:16. 


58        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

disposed  belief  by  an  abrupt  disclosure,  John 
was  brought  steadily,  by  all  the  laws  which 
enter  into  a  normal  conviction,  up  to  where 
he  could  declare :  "He  is  the  propitiation 
for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  also 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world."* 

With  the  new  theology,  all  things  emana- 
ted from  God  in  the  original  posit,  endowed 
with  manifold  natural  laws  which  stand  in 
God's  stead;  and  all  things  proceed  back  in 
the  direction  of  God,  as  represented  in  the 
highest  manifestation  of  evolution's  law,  the 
"fittest"  surviving,  the  inferior  being  doom- 
ed. This  doom  involves  the  elimination  of 
inferior  individuals  of  the  highest  species 
and  the  ultimate  dissolution  of  the  lower 
species.  It  supposes  immortality  only  for 
the  fittest ;  and  the  more  common  tendency  is 
to  make  this  immortality  racial  instead  of 
individual.  Under  this  interpretation,  it  is 
consistent  also  to  concede  the  immortality  of 
all  the  higher  and  more  fundamental  species 
of  living  creatures. t  This  illustrates  the 
fact  that  the  new  theology  in  its  conception 

*1  Jcyhin  2:2. 

tThis  is  made  relative  by  the  pihitosoptoers'  view  of  the 
durability  of  the  solar  system.  It  lias  been  calculated 
that  in  la  given  number  of  miiillions  of  years  the  sun  would 
burn  down  to  a  dharred  imass  aimd  life  would  disaippear 
frem  our  system.  Then,  of  course,  -with  the  physiological 
correlate  would  pass  tlie  ipisychic  p'henoimena !  PhyiSics 
canmot  flgure  around  the  net'essiity  'Of  putting  a  time  limiiit 
on  tlhe  longevity  of  onr  universe.  But  even  soience  ad- 
mitis  that  there'  is  a  way  around  some  things  that  mairt 
cannot  figure  around  because  of  the  magnitude  of  the  cal- 
culation and  the  absence  of  some  of  the  terms. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        59 


of  deity  seems  at  once  to  share  the  view  of 
pantheism  and  deism. 

With  the  conservation  of  energy  granted 
in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the  universe  a 
closed  system,  and  with  the  Darwinian  doc- 
trine of  origins  assumed,  it  is  impossible  to 
grant  that  Christ  came  down  from  heaven. J 
There  is  only  one  place  to  accord  him;  he  is 
an  outstanding  result  of  progressive  evolu- 
tion ;  a  kind  of  promontory  in  a  distant  con- 
tinent, which  humanity's  ship  is  approach- 
ing; the  first  fruit  of  a  golden  period  yet  to 
come,  creating  by  his  personality  and  exam- 
ple an  idea  of  a  millennial  age,  the  idea  it- 
self being  "the  kingdom  of  God",  gradually 
fastening  upon  the  imagination  of  mankind, 
by  means  of  those  instrumentalities  invoked 
by  the  Church.  That  he  was  mistaken  in 
himself  and  his  mission,  it  is  logically  nec- 
essary, from  this  standpoint,  to  conclude; 
also  that,  with  his  perfect  moral  and  spir- 
itual conceptions,  he  was  intellectually 
crude,  trammelled  by  the  supersti- 
tions of  his  day,  and  in  no  sense  in- 
formed ahead  of  the  uninformed  schol- 
arship   of    the    time   of    his  ministry.*    It 

J'No  man  hath  ascenrled  up  to  heaven,  but  he  that  came 
down  from  heaven,  >sven  the  Son  ;of  Man  whioh  Is  in 
heaven."     John  2:1?.. 

*"JeS'Us    sharerl    the   iginiora.nce  of  men,    not  only    in   his 

boyhood,    but   thrwrglhout  'his    life was    possessed  dn 

the  last  months  or  years  of  his  liLfe  by  a  paissdonate  convic- 
tion ■wihioh  in  its  Mteral  form  can  only  be  called  a  ipatlhetic 
delUiSion."  "ProMems  of  Religion,"  iby  Durant  Brake,  p. 
143. 


60        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

will  be  seen  readily  where,  in  the  estimation 
of  the  new  theology,  is  placed  the  incarna- 
tion, the  preexistence  of  Christ,  which  he 
teaches  us  to  recognize,  the  virgin  birth,  his 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  other  re- 
lated doctrines.  Instead  of  admitting  that 
these  facts  corroborated  the  truth  of  his  di- 
vinity, the  new  theology  holds  that  they  are 
inventions,  on  a  par  with  fables,  growing 
out  of  the  assumption  of  his  divinity .f  Ev- 
ery estimate  of  him,  every  account  of  his 
works,  set  forth  in  his  biography,  must  be 
levelled  by  a  steam  roller  of  a  priori  reason- 
ing till  it  tallies  with  the  Christ  of  modern 
philosophy. 

NO  MIDDLE  GROUND. 
While  skepticism  or  avowed  infidelity  is 
more  logical  than  the  new  theology  in  that 
it  refuses  the  impossible  task  of  disparaging 
Christ  and  at  the  same  time  trying  to  cling 
to  him,  the  new  theology  is  more  logical 
when  it  recognizes  that  he  cannot  be  evaded 
or  ignored.  The  simple  fact,  announced  by 
him  and  verified  a  thousand  times  since,  is 
that  every  one  who  is  sufficiently  enlighten- 
ed to  reckon  with  him  at  all  must  be  wholly 
for  him  or  wholly  against  him ;  that  is,  he 
must  yield   his    allegiance   as   to   an    undi- 

flt  is  alwiayis  to  be  remembered,  howerer,  that  it  is  the 
character  and  life  of  Jesus,  which  ied  us  to  believe  in  the 
virg-in  birth,  and  not  the  virgin  birth  which  led  us  to  be- 
lieve in  Jesus."  "New  Testament  History,"  by  Harris 
Franklin  Rail,  p.  35. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        61 

minished,  undisparaged  Christ,  the  eternal 
Son,  as  he  represented  himself,  or  be  identi- 
fied with  those  who,  admitting  that  he  was 
a  genius,  regard  him  as  an  imposter.*  In  so 
regarding  him  they  make  him  the  perpetra- 
tor of  the  world's  greatest  fraud,  the  perpet- 
uation of  whose  name  and  influence  reflects 
the  idiocy  of  mankind.  Unitarianism  and 
all  forms  of  humanizing  Christology  are 
committed  to  an  impossibility.  Attempt  has 
been  made,  under  the  strongest  patronage, 
to  found  great  ecclesiastical  systems  around 
the  conception  of  a  disparaged  Christ,  but  it 
has  been  a  uniform  failure.  Such  a  Christ  is 
less  than  no  Christ,  and  there  is  no  cohesion 
in  the  nucleus  formed  around  him.  The 
Unitarian  Church  is  today  one  of  the  most 
respectable  and  cultured  bodies  in  the  world, 
with  antecedents  of  scholarship  dating  back 
to  the  Renaissance  and  the  Enlightenment; 
yet,  they  number  a  membership  of  less  than 
a  hundred  thousand.  They  symbolize  the 
shelter  and  church  life  of  those  who  are  too 
consistent  to  ignore  Christ,  and  not  consis- 
tent enough  to  accept  his  own  representation 
of  himself.  Due  to  the  fact  that  modern 
thought  has  prepared  a  favorable  ground, 
they  have  been  a  leavening  influence  in  many 
of  the  great  orthodox  denominations  during 
recent  decades.     Some  of  the  seminaries  of 


*"He  that  is  not  with   me   is  against  me:  and  \he  -that 
g-athereitli  not  with  me,  soattereth  abrotad."  Matthew  12:30. 


62        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

evangelical  Churches  would  easily  pass  for 
Unitarian  schools  today.  But  what  is  the 
result?  A  shortage  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  and  a  decline  in  the  average  num- 
ber of  additions  to  the  Church,  with  sages 
shaking  their  heads  in  perplexity,  and  ec- 
clesiastical philosophers  trying  to  show 
where  the  trouble  lies.  The  alternatives  of 
this  age  are  Christ  and  anti-christ ;  and  the 
imoment  we  dlisparage  the  personality  of 
Christ  we  cease  to  gather  with  him  and  be- 
gin to  scatter  abroad. 

THE  VIRGIN  BIRTH  AND  CHRISTIAN  EVIDENCES. 

In  some  of  our  seminaries  today,  teachers 
are  accorded  shelter  who  advance  the  sophis- 
try that  the  doctrine  of  the  virgin  birth  of 
Christ  is  not  necessary  to  Christianity;  oth- 
ers say  that  the  doctrine  of  his  resurrection 
from  the  dead  is  not  an  essential  among 
Christian  evidences.  To  declare  unessential 
a  truth  that  is  essential  amounts  to  the  an- 
nulling of  that  truth,  and  paves  the  way  in- 
fallibly to  a  policy  of  opposition  to  it  if  it 
works  a  hardship  upon  the  new  program; 
and  certainly  these  truths  make  such  hard 
sledding  for  the  new  theology  that  we  can- 
not regard  it  a  mere  incident  when  some 
professor  rises  in  his  place  to  pronounce 
them  "unessential."  We  are  bound  to  sus- 
pect in  him  a  fellowship  for  the  new  pro- 
gram, and  we  have  never  heard  of  an  in- 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        63 

stance  where  developments  proved  the  sus- 
picion unfounded. 

It  is  a  favorite  fallacy  in  new  theological 
literature  and  with  a  certain  class  of  clever 
professors  who  even  assume  sympathy  for 
the  virgin  birth  and  kindred  mysteries  con- 
nected  with  the  beginnings   of  our  Lord's 
earthly  history,  to  say  that  the  volume  of 
his  influence  accruing  since  he  left  the  earth 
is  necessary,  to   prove  the  virgin  birth   in 
the  logic  of  the  times.     The  inference   is, 
that  such  presentations  as  the  virgin  birth 
are  superfluous  among  Christian  evidences 
now,  though  valid  and  useful  at  the  outset, 
and  that  we  would  gain  a  point  in  our  mod- 
ern statement  if  we  quietly  dropped  these 
things  as  encumbrances.     Dr.  Lyman  Abbot 
includes  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  among  the 
encumbrances    of   modern    faith.*     This    is 
as  intelligent  in  sound  as  it  is  defective  in 
sense.     Those  things  in  the  beginning  were 
among  the  evidences ;  and  we  cannot  disen- 
tangle them  without  suspending  our  whole 
system  in  mid  air.     I  might  as  consistently 
say  that  the  Bible  was  my  proof  that  the  Son 
of  God  had  power  to  forgive  my  sins,  but 
since  I  had     experienced     forgiveness,     the 
practical  proof    had  annulled    the  necessity 
for  the  initial  proof,  and  I  did  not  need  that 
part  of  my  Bible  any  more. 

♦Article    on    "A    Relig-ious    Revolution."    "The    Ou'tlook," 
'Siepteimiber,  1915. 


64        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

The  difficulties  of  believing  in  the  virgin 
birth  are  not  specific.  They  come  and  go 
with  man's  general  aversion  for  the  super- 
natural. It  may  be  held  that  this  constitutes 
a  phase  of  the  supernatural  gratuitously  in- 
jected into  the  situation ;  but  this  is  not  for 
finite  man  to  decide.  No  one  holds  that  God 
could  not  have  devised  some  other  way  to 
bring  about  the  incarnation ;  but  those  who 
accept  the  fulfillment  of  prophetic  utter- 
ances as  something  more  than  an  accident 
or  an  invented  dovetail  are  bound  to  take 
seriously  the  report  of  Matthew  and  Luke 
and  the  early  Christians  regarding  the  vir- 
gin birth.  A  bona  fide  prophecy,  from  one 
of  the  least  questioned  of  all  prophetic 
sources*  reads :  "Therefore,  the  Lord  him- 
self shall  give  you  a  sign;  Behold  a  virgin 
shall  conceive,  and  bear  a  son,  and  shall 
call  his  name  Immanuel."  Evasive  writers 
might  say  this  meant  no  promise  of  an  un- 
usual thing,  referring  merely  to  the  first 
child  of  a  young  woman ;  but  the  prophet 
protects  us  against  this  interpretation  by 
saying  that  it  was  to  be  something  unusual, 
a  '"sign",  which  "Jehovah  himself"  should 
give.  There  is  no  chance  of  historic  mistake 
in  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  was  begotten 
out  of  wedlock.    No  one  would  have  thought 


♦Isaiah  7:14.     If  tbere  were  "two  Isaiahs"  this  was  the 
original  one. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        65 

to  invent  this  as  an  advantage  in  founding 
a  fraudulent  religious  enterprise.  With  a 
minimum  credit  for  the  historicity  of  the 
story  as  a  whole  the  sequence  shows  that 
Mary  and  Joseph  were  people  of  chaste  char- 
acter, with  ideals  which  were  strenuously 
high.  Clean  things  do  not  come  out  of  un- 
clean things ;  and  we  remember  that  the 
greatest  enemies  of  Christ  paid  tribute  to  his 
character.  This  argument  should  have  its 
required  supplement  for  the  modern  Chris- 
tian critic  when  he  remembers  what  the  pur- 
ifying stream  of  Christianty  has  meant  to 
the  world.  He  would  violate  all  his  instincts 
of  logic  to  say  that  it  sprang  forth  under 
false  pretenses ;  or,  assuming  the  doctrine  of 
the  virgin  birth  to  be  a  subsequent  inven- 
tion, he  would  go  back  upon  his  conception 
of  moral  coherency  in  saying  that  such  holy 
results  could  come  from  such  unholy  as>- 
sumptions. 

INCARNATION   FALSE  AND  TRUE. 

It  is  a  fact  brought  out  by  the  study  of 
comparative  religions,  that  the  idea  of  divine 
incarnation  was  not  peculiar  to  the  Hfe^ 
brews,  and  not  new  at  the  time  Christ  ap- 
peared. The  schools  of  skepticism  and  or- 
thodoxy have  used  this  fact  as  the  basis  of 
conclusions  which  are  diametrically  opposite, 
the  former  accusing  the  church  of  construct- 


66        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

ing  its  idea  of  the  person  of  Christ  out  of 
borrowed  material.  But,  on  the  side  of  the 
truth,  it  has  been  shown  that  the  church  got 
its  idea  of  Christ  from  himself*,  whose 
credentials  were  and  have  continued  to  be 
so  imposing  that  to  challenge  them  is  like 
questioning  the  validity  of  the  tides  or  au- 
diting the  source  of  a  sunbeam.  If  the  sun 
looks  in  through  your  window  and  says,  I  am 
Sol,  the  day  spreads  its  mantle  over  the  land 
to  confirm  his  profession. 

Everything  is  grist  for  the  evolutionist's 
mill;  and  the  evidence  from  antiquity  of  a 
widespread  wish  among  the  nations  for  a 
manifestation  of  God  in  the  flesh  has  been 
taken  as  a  symptom  of  an  innate  outreach 
which  has  explained  man's  rise  from  the 
animal  kingdom.  They  accept  this  as  a 
part  of  nature's  wisdom;  but,  while  they 
credit  nature  with  great  precision  in  reach- 
ing her  objectives  on  other  lines,  they  fail 
to  recognize  the  possibility  of  a  valid  an- 
swer to  humanity's  cry  for  an  incarnation. 
The  outreach  of  humanity's  heart  for  "the 
desire  of  all  nations"  is  to  them  like  the  ten- 
dril of  a  climbing  vine,  reaching  for  a  shad- 

*"I  .amd  my  Father  nve  one."    .Tohn  10:30. 

"I  ciiine  fnirt'h  from  the  Father,  mnd  am  come  into  'the 
WiOiid:  A  sain.  I  leiave  the  world  aud  go  to  the  Father." 
John  n:28. 

"The  Jews  »ns\s'ered  liim,  sayin,g,  For  a  giootd  work  we 
stone  thee  not;  but  for  blasphemy;  and  because  that  thou, 
being  a  wjn,  miakest   thyself  God."     .John  10:33. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        67 

ow  or  a  fictitious  rafter;  whereas,  when 
things  go  as  nature  would  have  them  the  di- 
rection of  the  tendril's  reach  may  be  taken 
infallibly  as  the  direction  of  the  pole.  The 
widespread  expectancy  of  the  incarnation, 
working  itself  out  in  mythical  compositions 
and  concrete  impostures  is  a  voice  of  the 
ages  proclaiming  the  advent  of  Immanuel. 
This  is  confirmed  by  scores  of  analogies.  As 
light  is  made  to  answer  to  the  eye,  as  sound 
to  the  ear,  as  food  is  made  to  answer  hun- 
ger, and  the  same  God  made  them  all,  so  the 
cry  of  man's  worshipping  nature,  startling- 
ly  portrayed  through  the  findings  of  com- 
parative religions,  was  induced  by  the  same 
God,  who  manifested  himself  among  men  in 
the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  with  adequate 
facilities  to  answer  that  cry  in  all  who  vv^ould 
receive  him. 

THE  CLIMAX   IN    MIRACLES. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  encumber  this  chap- 
ter with  a  formula  defending  the  fact  of 
Christ's  resurrection  from  the  dead.  It  was 
prophesied  that  he  would  rise,  that  he  should 
not  see  corruption*,  and  he  foretold  his  own 
resurrection,!  The  report  that  he  did  rise 
could  not  have  grown  out  of  a  buoyant  ex- 


^PsMilim  16:10;  Acts  2:27. 

f'Fpam  that  time  fortih  beg.an  Jesus  to  slhow  unto  hts 
(lliiseipleis,  liow  that  he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem,  amd  suf- 
fer many  thinars  of  the  elders  .and  chief  priests  and  s<?ribes, 
and  he  killeii,  and  he  raiised  Again  the  third  d'ay." 
Matthew   J 6:21. 


6'8        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

pectancy  in  the  minds  of  his  disciples,  for, 
having  been  unable  to  believe  that  he  would 
die,  they  had  failed  to  arm  themselves  with 
a  faith  to  offset  the  shock  when  he  did  die. 
Consequently,  they  were  resigned  to  an  un- 
certain prospect,  and  would  only  believe  he 
had  risen  when  compelled  to  do  so  by  stub- 
born evidence. t  In  its  more  extreme  form, 
the  new  theology  would  have  us  believe  that 
the  Lord  did  not  die,  but  simply  passed 
through  a  trance,  to  retire  into  obscurity, 
and  later  die  a  natural  death ;  or  else  that 
his  friends  did  probably  steal  his  body  and 
start  a  false  report,  as  was  stated  among  the 
opposing  Jews.  The  evidence  of  his  resur- 
rection has  been  clearly  pointed  out  in  many 
ably  written  volumes,  and  is  before  us  in 
the  very  life  of  this  age.  Every  attempt  to 
explain  it  away  is  so  palpably  weak  and  so 
evidently  due  to  a  desire  to  take  care  of 
science  or  something  else,  that  we  may  gain 
nothing  here  by  trying  to  reckon  with  it. 
This  outstanding  event  of  history,  the  cer- 
tainty of  which  increases  in  volume  with 
each  turn  of  the  wheel  of  time,  serves  as  an 
immortal  pro  of -text  for  the  gospel  we 
preach.  The  fact  that  Jesus  lives,  that  he 
lives  on  the  triumphant  side  of  the  grave, 
has  explained  not  only  that  contagious  cer- 
taintv  which  has  marked  the  successful  ex- 


^.Luke  24:11.  31,  22.     Jo'lin  20:25. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        69 

ponents  of  the  Gospel  in  every  age,  but  this 
thrilling  fact,  settled  beyond  all  chance  of 
refutation,  has  put  into  the  disciples  of 
Christ  a  spirit  of  daring,  a  sentiment  of  self 
denial,  a  willingness  to  invest  their  all,  which 
has  been  the  amazement  of  every  thinking 
man  who  was  unacquainted  with  the  under- 
lying secret.  As  the  sun  at  his  rising  would 
dissolve  the  halo  of  the  street  lights,  so  this 
has  been  the  miracle  that  swallowed  up  all 
other  miracles.  So  loftily  does  it  stand  out 
upon  the  horizon  of  the  past  that  no  other 
miracle  is  deemed  necessary  as  a  credential 
for  the  gospel.  Miracles  may  be  worked 
today,  bringing  consolation  or  relief  to  the 
servants  of  God,  but  they  are  no  longer  need- 
ed, and  should  be  no  longer  offered  as  cre- 
dentials for  the  Gospel.  The  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead  renders  the  Gos- 
pel no  longer  an  unconcluded  argument,  but 
a  grand  proclamation.  However  the  faith 
of  men  of  other  ages  might  have  come, 
'■'faith  comes  by  hearing"*  in  every  normal 
instance  of  our  day.  If  a  man  can  be  justi- 
fied he  can  be  glorified;!  but  he  cannot  be 
justified  without  faith. J  The  resurrection) 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  offered  by  the  Scriptures 
as  a  sufficient  basis  for  justifying  faith.** 

*Riomams  10:17. 

tRomans  8:30". 

JRomans  5:1.    Hebrews  11:6. 

**Romans  4:20-25. 


70        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

THE  FAILURE  OF  LABORATORY  ANALYSIS. 

The  "traditional"  view  of  the  person  of 
Christ  is  not  traceable  to  mere  traditions  of 
the  past,  nor  is  the  "critical"  view  the  result 
of  scientific  findings.  The  new  position  gets 
its  support  rather  from  the  psychology  of 
the  present  time.  "The  Christ  of  the  new 
theology"  is  the  natural  product  of  a  line  of 
emphasis  in  the  education  of  today,  which 
line  is  bound  to  be  shifted  after  the  spot 
light  shines  on  it  a  few  more  decades. 
Those  who  would  bring  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ  to  the  laboratory  for  analysis,  or  who 
would  subject  him  to  an  investigation  in  the 
matter  of  his  genesis,  his  advent,  his  pro- 
gram and  his  future,  may  expect  to  be  baf- 
fled with  more  than  one  unanswerable  ques- 
tion. The  difficulties  are  not  reduced  by 
turning  to  evolution  or  the  new  theology  for 
a  solution.  To  be  consistent,  evolution  must 
compliment  him  with  the  distinction  of  be- 
ing in  his  day  the  highest  product  of  pro- 
gressive evolution ;  but  it  must  also,  to  be 
consistent,  expect  a  greater  than  Jesus,  as 
the  millenniums  pass.  Even  a  new  theo- 
logian would  regard  such  a  position  as  anti- 
Christian  ;  but  honest,  outspoken  infidels, 
who,  instead  of  trying  to  supplant  and  take 
the  property  and  title  of  Christianity,  are 
frankly  declaring  themselves  against  Christ, 
will  admit  the  logic  of  our  position.   It  is  a 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        71 

case  of  trying  to  accept  him  and  reject  him 
at  the  same  time,  when  one  holds  him  as  the 
Christ  for  every  age  and  at  the  same  time 
refuses  to  see  in  his  advent  a  new  addition 
to  the  cosmic  system  from  the  divine  uni- 
verse above  us;  an  exotic  force,  beyond  the 
natural  order. 

Naturally,  there  are  many  problems  en- 
countered when  we  begin  to  study  the  per- 
son of  Christ.  His  existence  from  eternity, 
his  relationship  with  the  Father  as  the 
"only  begotten"  Son,  his  incarnation,  his 
temporary  humiliation  while  in  the  flesh, 
with  the  question  of  his  resignation  of  rights 
and  limitation  of  knowledge,  his  subjection 
of  himself  to  the  necessity  of  meeting  human 
conditions,  including  supplication  and  obed- 
ience unto  death.  These,  more  seriously 
than  his  subsequent  "glorification"  and  his 
coming  majesty,  present  us  themies  which 
are  hard  to  comprehend,  and  in  the  accept- 
ance of  which  we  must  have  recourse  to 
faith.  We  cannot  figure  them  out  or  expound 
them  after  a  rational  scheme.  We  can  re- 
concile our  intelligence,  however,  in  two  re- 
flections :  All  thes€  phenomena,  w^hile  beyond 
reason,  are  not  contrary  to  reason ;  and  all 
other  schools,  being  bound  to  accept  Christ 
as  a  fact,  have  tried  in  vain  to  account  for 
him  on  a  basis  which  involves  any  less  of 
difficulty  or  which  brings  half  as  much  bene- 


72        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

fit  and  blessing  to  mankind  as  that  which 
accepts  him  just  as  he  represented  himself. 
The  careful  student  of  the  life  of  Christ  is 
well  aware  that  pre  existence  from  eternity 
and  divine  attributes  were  claimed  for  him 
in  the  days  of  his  ministry  and  in  apostolic 
times ;  and  the  man  of  reverence  and  faith 
will  also  recognize  that  the  claim  was  back- 
ed by  overwhelming  credentials  during  those 
times  and  it  has  been  unceasingly  confirmed 
by  the  results  of  his  influence  in  the  world 
through  the  ensuing  centuries;  an  influence 
which  was  never  so  great  as  today,  after 
nineteen  centuries  have  passed. 

PREEXISTENCE,    SONSHIP   AND    LIMITATIONS 

How,  then,  shall  we  dismiss  our  difficult 
questions?  There  is  no  syllable  of  proof 
that  the  supreme  being  is  triune  in  his  man- 
ifestation, with  a  person  in  the  Godhead 
called  "the  Son,"  excepting  as  we  find  it  in 
holy  writ,  or  get  it  from  the  statement  of 
Christ.  It  is  a  fact  which  vaguely  appears  in 
the  Old  Testament,  but  awaits  its  clear  de- 
finition in  the  New.  We  may  infer  that  "the 
Son,"  being  a  term  borrowed  from  the  an- 
alogies of  this  life,  presents  one  way,  of 
which  there  are  others,  for  enabling  the 
human  mind  to  form  a  profitable  apprehen- 
sion of  Christ's  place  in  the  Godhead.  It  fol- 
lows, therefore,  that  the  word  "begotten," 
when  applied  to  the  eternal  Son,  is  entirely 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        73 

free  from  one  of  its  meanings  as  we  iholdi  it 
in  the  analogy  of  human  generation,  and  is 
employed,  not  to  imply  that  there  was  a 
time  when  Christ  was  not,  but  to  impress  us 
with  the  vital  oneness  of  Christ  with  the 
Father.  A  small  minority  of  orthodox  teach- 
ers have  narrowed  the  reference  of  this  term 
and  its  equivalents  to  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  natural  generation  of  Jesus, 
assuming  that  his  existence  in  the  Godhead 
from  the  eternities  past  was  to  be  appre- 
hended under  some  other  analogy;  but  the 
sound  position,  which  orthodoxy  generally 
favors,  recognizes  the  fact  that  from  the  be- 
ginning, when  God  out  of  his  love  contem- 
plated the  gift  of  Christ  as  the  world's 
Savior  (John  3:16)  he  was  the  "only  be- 
gotten Son."  The  problem  of  his  incarna- 
nation  we  have  already  studied,  to  the  satis- 
faction of  one  who  has  faith;  but  if  one  is 
predisposed  to  unbelief,  it  is  a  part  of  the 
divine  economy  to  give  him  a  way  of  escape 
from  the  necessity  of  believing,  as  no  con- 
scripts are  wanted  in  the  way  of  faith. 

It  is  evident  that  Christ  represented  some 
of  his  divine  attributes  as  being  suspended 
during  the  yeans  that  he  lived  in  human 
flesh  and  subjected  himself  to  natural  laws. 
He  refers  to  an  item  of  knowledge  which 
was  kept  from  him  during  his  humiliation,* 

•Acts  8:33;  Mark  13:32. 


74        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

and  we  may  infer  that,  though  during  the 
period  of  his  Spirit-filled  ministry  his  dis- 
cerning power  was  extensive,!  other  items 
of  knowledge  were  temporarily  put  away 
from  him  as  a  part  of  his  emptying. $  His 
authority  while  in  the  flesh,  vast  as  it  was 
over  disease,  devils,  and  forces  of  nature, 
may  have  had  limits;  but  it  was  made  in- 
finite after  his  resurrection.**  Exactly  to 
estimate  the  status  of  the  great  Christ  after 
the  measure  of  a  man  or  after  the  measure 
of  God,  during  the  several  periods  between 
the  nativity  and  the  ascension,  would  be  im- 
possible. It  was  never  intended  that  he 
should  be  an  available  specimen  in  anybody's 
laboratory  of  psychology  or  metaphysics.  It 
is  easy  for  the  unsympathizing  critic,  read- 
ing the  conversations  and  sermons  of  Jesus 
and  the  record  of  his  deeds,  to  say  that  his 
knowledge  was  circumscribed,  and  that  he 
partook  of  the  superstitions  of  his  day.  But, 
in  ans'wer  to  the  former,  we  may  be  remind- 
ed that  though  Jesus  made  free  use  of  near- 
ly all  the  subjects  which  now  furnish  the 
basis  of  the  several  sciences,  he  never  made 
a  scientific  blunder.  This  is  the  more  re- 
markable when  we  remember  that  most  any 
preacher  or  orator  today  drawing  topics 
from  subjects  in  which  he  is  unread  is  liable 


t.Toihn  2.24-25;  Lmke  5:22. 
tPhiJipipians  2:6-8. 
•♦Matthew  28:18. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        75 

to  make  conspicuous  mistakes,  and  when  we 
bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  other  literature 
coming  to  us  from  that  time  commonly  ex- 
hibits a  crudeness  of  understanding  when  it 
undertakes  to  handle  scientific  data  and  a 
very  quaint  flavor  in  most  of  its  philosophy. 

DEVILS  AND  DISEASE. 

About  all  the  charge  of  superstition  hinges 
around  his  recognition  of  the  existence  of 
devils,  and  his  seeming  accord  with  the  pre- 
vailing belief,  still  common  in  certain  pagan 
nations,  that  there  is  intimate  relationship 
between  ordinary  physical  afflictions  and 
the  possession  of  evil  spirits.  The  most  that 
can  be  got  out  of  this  is  that  Christ  admitted 
that  such  a  relationship  sometimes  existed. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  he  ascribed  some  af- 
flictions to  the  sins  of  the  individual,  with- 
out reference  to  demoniacle  possession.*  It  is 
also  clear  that  he  admitted  the  possibility  of 
grave  physical  affliction  without  any  sin 
whatever  being  connected  with  the  cause.f 
To  what  extent  he  deliberately  adapted  him- 
self to  the  erroneous  views  of  those  who 
waited  upon  his  ministry  we  have  no  way  of 
telling;  but  a  resort  to  this  is  a  doubtful 
method  for  explaining  difficult  questions. 
His  recognition  of  the  existence  of  devils, 
especially  of  the  existence  of  Satan,  needs 


*John  5rl4. 
tJohn  9;3. 


76        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

no  apology,  excepting  in  the  arena  of  the  new 
theology,  where  apology  is  needed  also  for 
his  miracles,  and  for  all  that  pertains  to  the 
supernatural,  including  the  experiences  of 
grace  in  the  Christian  heart.  That  the  word 
devil,  as  employed  in  the  New  Testament, 
might  sometimes  stand  for  an  evil  disposi- 
tion or  a  sinful  principle  is  quite  generally 
conceded.  Casting  out  devils  is  the  New 
Testament  expression  for  what  we  mean  by 
getting  people  converted ;  but  the  question  of 
belief  in  devils  resolves  itself  to  the  ques- 
tion of  whether  we  shall  believe  in  the  super- 
natural or  the  spiritual  realm  at  all.  When 
the  latter  is  settled  there  is  no  difficulty 
about  the  former.  The  repeated  efforts  of 
such  scholars  as  those  composing  the  So- 
ciety for  Psychical  Research  to  grapple  with 
the  phenomena  of  the  occult,  the  divided 
courts  which  have  often  resulted  from  these 
investigations,  the  unsolved  metaphysical 
problems  which  continue  confessedly  to 
hang  over  the  horizon  of  science,  including 
the  sublime  phenomena  described  in  Begbie's 
Twice  Born  Men,  all  serve  to  make  us  in- 
fallibly sure  that  science  is  not  infallibly  sure 
there  is  no  devil.  Any  discussion,  therefore, 
which  would  reflect  upon  the  intelligence  and 
integrity  of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  phenomenal 
assets  are  so  great,  with  so  few  liabilities  to 
offset  them,  should  be  shifted  from    those 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        77 

points  where  modest  scientists  can  claim  no 
certain  knowledge,  and  confined  to  questions 
of  established  fact. 

THE  LAST  WORD  IN  EVIDENCE. 

This  done,  and  we  believe  that  the  un- 
friendly critic  will  soon  become  as  silent  as 
the  lawyer  of  old,  who  durst  ask  him  no 
more  questions.  The  communities  where  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  been  fairly  and  fully 
represented  present  a  marked  advancement 
over  all  other  communities.  The  better  in- 
fluences now  dominant  in  the  world  are 
traceable  to  him;  whether  it  be  in  the  in- 
stitutions of  mercy  for  the  afflicted,  the  open- 
ing of  the  door  of  equity  to  the  poor,  the 
humble  and  the  toiler,  the  elevation  of  wo- 
man from  vassalage  to  the  queenly  position 
for  which  she  was  made,  or  the  movements 
for  man's  higher  developement  mentally  and 
spiritually.  But  when  a  proponent  eludes 
these  proofs  and  satisfies  himself  that  the 
world  without  Jesus  could  have  had  all  these 
things,  we  have  remaining,  as  facts  of  his- 
tory past  and  current,  thousands  of  men  and 
women  redeemed  from  shackles  of  habit  and 
depths  of  degradation  from  which  no  cult  of 
earth  has  ever  been  able  to  bring  them,  and 
no  device  of  science  at  its  best  has  ever  been 
sufficient  to  recover  them..  The  Mary  Mag- 
dalenes  and  the  erry  McAuleys  are  not  the 
least  among  the  glorious  credentials  of  the 


78        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

Christ  of  orthodoxy.  The  question  arises, 
could  the  Christ  of  the  new  theology  have 
cast  the  devils  out  of  them? 

This  Christ  who  has  such  a  significant 
past,  to  whom  the  present  bears  such  vol- 
uminous testimony,  claimed  for  himself  a 
future  more  glorious  than  all ;  and,  after  all 
that  has  come  in  the  way  of  proof,  who  is 
so  hardy  as  to  doubt  that  there  is  something 
in  his  claim?  The  inducements  for  one  to 
identify  himself  with  this  same  Christ 
through  an  unquestioning  faith,  accepting 
his  progTam  and  not  trying  to  make  a  new 
one,  supporting  his  standards  without  trying 
to  trim  them,  were  never  more  attractive 
than  today.  Not  only  does  his  way  present 
to  us  the  brightest  path  that  wisdom  has 
ever  found,  but  it  is  the  only  safe  way  for 
nations  or  for  men  to  reach  the  desired 
haven. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   AUTHORITY   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  when  a  man 
goes  beyond  what  he  can  learn  through  his 
sense  faculties,  his  knowledge  is  only  ap- 
proximate ;  and  that  it  must  undergo  re- 
vision and  seek  improvement  till  he  goes 
hence  into  the  light  of  a  clearer  day.  This  is 
true,  as  it  touches  fields  of  speculative 
thought ;  but  on  questions  vital  to  human  sal- 
vation and  hope  a  more  sure  word  is  needed. 
As  the  need  is  so  natural  and  so  uniform,  it 
is  in  harmony  with  all  the  analogies  of  na- 
ture for  us  to  expect  a  supply,  to  answer  the 
need.  Orthodox  Christianity  affirms  that 
such  a  supply  is  found  in  the  Bible.  To  the 
Bible  we  ascribe  an  infallibility  for  human 
guidance  which  is  only  qualified  by  imper- 
fections of  copying,  translation,  and  of  in- 
terpretation. It  is  admitted  that  these  three 
sources  of  error  have  produced  quite  an  ob- 
scuring effect,  varying  in  its  density  in  dif- 
ferent generations,  and  in  different  circles 
in  the  same  generation.  It  is  held,  neverthe- 
less, that  these  obscuring  factors  do  not 
place  the  sincere  student  at  a  hopeless  disad- 
vantage ;  the  facilities  for  determining  all 

79 


80        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

the  books  that  are  canonical  have  furnished 
conclusions  which  are  almost  as  exact  as  a 
process  in  mathematics,  and  the  resources 
for  checking  up  the  work  of  copyists  and 
translators  are  so  manifold  as  to  make  the 
list  of  disputed  renderings  surprisingly 
small.  Most  of  the  confusion  of  tongues, 
ecclesiastically  speaking,  has  grown  out  of 
conflicting  or  diverging  interpretations.  To 
the  opposer  of  divine  revelation  this  is  a 
proof  that  the  Bible  contradicts  itself ;  an  asi- 
sertion  which  two  generations  ago  was  left 
to  Thomas  Payne  and  Robert  Ingersoll;  but 
which  is  now  made  by  "devout"  scholars  in 
our  seminaries  and  in  theological  litera- 
ture with  a  seriousness  which  would  imply 
that  a  caveat  is  entirely  out  of  the  question. 
It  would  require  a  master  of  metaphysics 
to  explain  the  manifold  divergencies  in  in- 
terpreting the  Bible.  He  would  have  to  show 
how  sentiment,  the  fruit  of  environment  or 
heredity,  would  color  the  premises  of  a  syl- 
logism; how  prejudice  or  selfish  ends  could 
influence  the  processes  of  thought;  how 
habit  in  reacting  could  make  individuals  and 
groups  mistake  a  psychological  process  for 
a  logical  method ;  how  beliefs  could  become 
epidemic,  whose  subjects  admire  their  skies 
and  pay  little  attention  to  their  grounds ;  how 
personal  equation  would  make  a  dozen  as- 
tronomers write  as  many  different  reports 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        81 

of  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  or  produce  a  per- 
ceptible difference  in  the  rendering  of  the 
same  piece  of  instrumental  music  by  artists 
at  Berlin,  London,  Rome,  Boston,  Nashville, 
and  Tokyo.  It  is  certain  that  without  any 
strain  he  could  account  for  the  conflicting 
interpretations  of  the  Bible  and  not  have  to 
charge  that  sacred  book  with  inconsistency 
or  self  contradiction.  And  as  for  the  minor 
disagreements  in  the  text,  men  who  have 
made  so  much  of  the  debauching  results  of 
the  copying  and  interlining  of  old  manu- 
scripts cannot  turn  and  charge  minor  dis- 
parities to  the  Biblical  writers  without  ex- 
hibiting prejudice  or  betraying  lack  of  sin- 
cerity. Indeed  the  small  verbal  contrari- 
eties in  the  Holy  Scriptures  have  been  met 
and  explained  in  our  standard  commentar- 
ies by  methods  of  exegesis  entirely  satisfac- 
tory to  sympathetic  readers. 

THE    FIRST    DESTRUCTIVE    STROKE. 

Modern  destructive  criticism  frees  itself 
for  action,  first  by  denying  the  peculiar  au- 
thority of  the  Bible.  This  is  accomplished 
by  puncturing  every  theory  of  inspiration 
that  has  historic  standing.  The  believer  is 
relieved  of  the  breath-taking  result  of  an  ab- 
rupt fall  by  the  assurance  that  Jesus  Christ 
had  authority,  that  historic  methods  can 
sufficiently  determine  the  gist  of  his  teach- 
ing to  make  us  safe  in  having  something  to 


82        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

guide  us,  and  that  this  gist,  supplemented  by 
the  results  of  his  life,  projected  down 
through  the  centuries,  serves  as  a  touch- 
stone by  which  to  interpret  the  allegories  of 
Old  Testament  history,  and  to  correct  the 
crude  standards  which  are  imbedded  in  the 
sixty-six  books;  especially  in  the  thirty-nine. 

The  spirit  that  negotiates  this  high  hand- 
ed denial  of  inspiration  does  not  believe  in 
the  supernatural.  In  former  centuries  its 
school  could  not  get  together  on  a  slogan  for 
substituting  the  Biblical  account  of  the  ori- 
gin of  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants  and  of 
civilization,  morality,  and  religious  institu- 
tions. Now,  these  are  all  solved  in  the  one 
word  evolution;  and  a  key  is  at  hand  with 
which  to  account  for  each  book  of  the  Bible 
and  to  interpret  its  contents. 

It  follows,  therefore,  a  priori,  that  the  first 
five  books  in  the  Bible  were  written  at  a  date 
much  later  than  Moses.  They  teach  that  God 
creat-ed  all  things,  that  man  in  his  lowly 
condition,  where  history  first  finds  him,  re- 
presents a  descent  from  diviner  conditions 
instead  of  an  ascent  from  animal  forbears. 
They  teach  that  the  religion  that  has  typed 
the  world's  chief  civilization  originated  by 
revelation  in  an  epochal  compass  of  time 
and  that  the  fundamental  ethics  of  life, 
while  true  to  nature's  criteria,  did  not  orig- 
inate from  nature,  but  were  given  in  one  day 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        83 

from  the  hand  of  God,  and  that  the  revela- 
tion which  God  made  of  himself  at  that  time 
included  the  tuitionary  system  of  Levitical 
laws  with  a  magnificent  ritual,  unfolding  al- 
most in  a  day,  in  the  camps  of  a  "primitive, 
barbarous,  illiterate"  people.  Such  teaching 
must  be  false  if  spontaneous  generation  be 
true.  The  institutions  and  civilization  im- 
plied in  the  Pentateuch  had  to  come  about 
gradually,  allowing  centuries  of  time  for 
their  developement  after  the  exodus. 

Consequently,  we  are  asked  to  look  for 
proof  that  the  five  books  of  Moses  were 
written  hundreds  of  years  after  Moses,  in 
the  ripe  years  of  the  history  of  the  Hebrew 
nation,  by  clever  literary  men  who  collected 
old  documents  containing  the  myths  and 
folklore  of  the  centuries  and  wove  them  into 
a  history  interspersed  with  legend,  to  give 
their  highly  developed  laws  and  ritual  an 
ancient  setting,  and,  in  keeping  with  the 
customs  of  the  nations,  assign  to  themselves 
a  past  full  of  fictitious  glory.  This  is  the 
key,  the  Rosetta  stone,  of  the  modern  critical 
method,  in  the  schools  which  deny  the  doc- 
trine of  divine  revelation ;  and  much  of  its 
method  has  been  taken  over  by  schools  that 
still  claim  to  believe  in  an  orthodox  inspir- 
ation of  the  Scriptures.  But  it  is  self-evi- 
dent either  that  such  schools  do  not  believe 
in  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  or  that 


84        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

they  have  not  yet  thought  their  problem 
through  and  found  the  ground  on  which 
they  really  belong. 

PRO  AND  CON  OF  MOSAIC  AUTHORSHIP. 

All  our  readers  will  not  count  us  fair  in 
saying  that  the  first  assumption  against  the 
Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch  was  a 
priori ;  that  students  were  "asked  to  look  for 
proof"  against  the  orthodox  position.  It  was 
not  a  priori  to  those  who  learned  it  as  par- 
rots. Students  of  the  seminaries  today, 
where  denial  of  Mosaic  authorship  is  incul- 
cated, are  usually  brought  into  this  hypo- 
thesis from  inductive  sources.  After  being 
shown  a  presumptive  ground  against  the 
Mosaic  authorship  in  the  thought  that  Moses 
was  a  man  of  action,  a  practical  man  of  af- 
fairs, and  that  writing  was  out  of  his  line, 
they  are  offered  as  concrete  proof  against 
Mosaic  authorship,  the  argument  that  Bib- 
lical history  from  Joshua  to  the  exile  "ig- 
nores Levitical  law" ;  that  geographical  des- 
ignations in  the  Pentateuch,  such  as,  "On  the 
other  side  of  Jordan,"  etc.,  indicate  the  au- 
thor as  located  in  Palestine,  where  Moses 
never  entered;  that  certain  weights  and 
measures  and  other  objects  of  Moses'  time 
are  defined  by  the  writer  of  the  Pentateuch 
as  if  he  were  writing  later;  that  historic 
source  books  and  other  features  belonging  to 
Moses'  time  are  quoted  in  the  Pentateuch  as 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        85 

belonging  to  a  date  earlier  than  the  time  in 
which  the  author  was  writing;  and,  finally, 
that  the  original  Hebrew  gives  the  books  of 
the  Pentateuch  a  stratified  or  composite  ap- 
pearance, as  if  they  had  evolved  or  had  been 
compiled  from  miscellaneous  sources,  the 
streaks  being  manifest  in  the  translations ; 
as,  e.  g.,  the  two  accounts  of  creation  in  the 
opening  of  Genesis. 

These  arguments  point  out  difficulties  so 
elementary  that  the  average  reader  may  sur- 
mount them  in  a  few  moments  of  re- 
flexion, after  comparing  contexts.  A  brief 
discussion  from  a  safe  source  is  found  in 
"Old  Testament  Introduction"  by  Dr.  John 
H.  Raven,  pages  93-114.  It  is  easy  to  as- 
semble chapters  of  proof  in  favor  of  the 
Mosaic  authorship  that  is  highly  assuring  to 
those  who  are  not  pre-induced  by  an  oppos- 
ing atmosphere  or  obsessed  with  a  theory 
which  makes  Mosaic  authorship  impossible 
in  the  premises.  The  following  is  a  line  of 
proof  in  gist  which  is  susceptible  of  most 
satisfying  development  :  (1)  A  large  part 
of  the  Pentateuch  professes  to  have  been 
written  by  Moses.  (2)  References  to  it,  by 
Old  and  New  Testament  writers  uniformly 
ascribe  it  to  Moses.  (3)  Jesus  Christ  always 
treated  it  as  the  work  of  Moses.  (4)  The 
Jews  of  Christ's  time  believed  that  Moses 
wrote  the  five  books.    (5)  Many  texts  in  the 


86        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

Hebrew,  referring  to  Egypt,  prove  the  au- 
thor's familiarity  with  that  country.  (6) 
The  original  contains  Hebrew  words  of 
Egyptian  flavor,  not  usually  found  in  the 
other  Old  Testament  writings.  (7)  Customs 
peculiar  to  Egypt  are  referred  to  as  existing 
when  the  Pentateuch  was  written.  (8)  The 
laws,  said  by  critics  to  be  of  later  origin, 
show  marks  of  having  originated  under  the 
author's  circumstances,  e.  g..  Lev.  25:1,  2. 
They  also  show  a  primitive  intermingling  of 
civil,  economic,  moral  and  religious  codes. 

But  the  men  of  originality,  who  founded 
this  new  hypothesis,  approached  it  by  deduc- 
tive methods.  They  were  ultra  evolution- 
ists, and  they  felt  that  the  Bible  had  to  be 
for  their  theory  or  not  be  at  all.  They  began 
their  investigation  expecting  to  find  that  the 
Pentateuch  was  a  more  modern  document; 
and,  true  to  a  maxim  of  psychology,  they 
found  what  they  expected.  They  found  it 
not,  however,  till  they  had  borrowed  the 
shrewd  arguments  that  European  deism  had 
framed  in  the  past  three  hundred  years  for 
the  destruction  of  the  authority  of  Moses' 
writings  and  the  annihilation  of  revealed  re- 
ligion, and  had  analyzed  with  pathetic 
minuteness  the  smallest  philological  tech- 
nicalities of  the  Hebrew  manuscripts.  About 
all  that  we  must  concede  is  that  this  ancient 
charter  of  revealed  religion   contains  diflfi- 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        87 

culties ;  and  this  concession  was  made  before 
evolutionary  criticism  arose  to  magnify  the 
difficulties. 

"contributions"  of  destructive  criticism. 
It  is  diverting  to  read  of  v^^hat  this  "scien- 
tific" method  of  investigation  has  done  for 
Biblical  interpretation.  Let  us  inquire 
what  new  facts  have  been  brought  to  light 
by  evolutionary  criticism.  What  do  they 
know  that  the  scholars  before  them  did  not 
know  in  the  form  of  data  for  estimating  the 
books  of  the  Bible?  Some  other  manu- 
scripts have  been  found,  but  these  make  no 
special  contribution  to  Biblical  criticism, 
excepting  to  add  weight  to  orthodoxy  and 
increase  the  critic's  problem.  Some  excava- 
tions have  been  made,  but  destructive  critics 
are  usually  shy  of  the  spade,  for  it  has  flatly 
disputed  their  word  and  driven  them  from 
their  former  assertion  that  people  could  not 
read  in  the  days  of  Moses  ;t  and  as  the  arch- 
aeologists continue  to  dig  there  is  immanent 
danger  to  evolutionary  critics,  for  they 
have  found  the  ancient  city  of  Troy  which 
the  "critical  method"  pronounced  a  myth,* 
and  they  are  likely  at  any  time  to  dig  up  a 
section  of  the  Pentateuch  among  the  antiqui- 
ties of  Moses'  time.  What  have  they  new  to 
offer  us  on  the  subject  of  Mosaic  authorship? 


tThe  Deciding  Voice  of  the  iMonuiments  on  iBilblLoal  Clrit- 
'icism."  by   M.  G.  Kyle,   LL.D.,  p.  83  f. 
*rbid.  p.  38. 


8S        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

Nothing  but  a  fond  doctrine  of  evolution  and 
a  clever  formation  of  rhetoric  which,  deny- 
ing the  Mosaic  authorship,  makes  a  forgery- 
out  of  the  first  five  books  of  the  Bible,  and 
then  shows  us  how  to  exercise  respect  for 
that  forgery  and  derive  help  from  its  moral 
teachings. 

The  doctrine  of  inspiration  denied,  the 
theory  of  allegory,  fable,  fiction  and  super- 
stition easily  provides  explanation  for  all 
that  we  have  from  the  pens  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  writers  which  might  em- 
barrass the  assumptions  of  science ;  and  time 
is  so  magnanimous  in  its  burial  of  circum- 
stantial evidence  that  it  has  been  found  pos- 
sible to  manipulate  authorship  and  dates  of 
the  several  books  so  as  to  protect  the  plausi- 
ibility  of  allegory  and  fiction  theories.  Pro- 
tection for  the  plausibility  of  a  thing  is  all 
that  a  man  wants  to  warrant  its  use  as  a 
keystone  in  his  arch,  provided  it  is  the  only 
thing  that  will  fit  in  well  enough  to  keep  his 
arch  from  falling.  The  subtleties  of  argu- 
ment are  always  sufficient  to  give  scientific 
airs  to  any  theory  which  does  not  fall  upon 
the  mishap  of  a  categorical  refutation. 

Happily  for  the  interests  of  the  Church  of 
God — and,  since  a  divine  decree  has  guar- 
anteed the  Church's  interests  so  that  it  needs 
no  human  defenders, — happily  for  the  in- 
terests of  unsophisticated  humanity,  the  ef- 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        89 

forts  of  destructive  criticism  to  treat  the 
first  five  books  of  the  New  Testament  by  a 
method  parallel  with  their  method  of  treating 
the  Pentateuch  have  failed.  If  the  position 
could  have  stood  unexploded,  that  the  synop- 
tic Gospels  were  written  by  ingenuous 
preachers  of  the  second  century,  over  the 
names  of  Matthew,  Mark  and  Luke,  it  would 
have  been  just  as  consistent  as  saying  that 
the  Pentateuch  was  written  by  a  clever  pen- 
man several  centuries  later  than  Moses,  and 
it  would  not  then  have  been  so  difficult  to 
say  that  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels  was  manu- 
factured by  his  disciples,  who,  at  a  period  so 
late  that  no  one  would  be  in  a  position  to 
deny  their  assertions,  took  a  life  a  little 
above  the  ordinary,  which  ended  with  a 
tragic  death,  and  exalted  it  into  a  life  of 
deity,  covering  it  with  a  fictitious  halo  and 
filling  it  with  legendary  miracles.  It  is  now 
conclusively  proved*  that  these  Gospels  orig- 
inated before  the  death  of  the  Apostle  Paul, 
at  a  time  when  much  literature  could  have 
been  launched  in  answer  to  the  extraordin- 
ary claims  ivhich  they  set  forth  for  Christ, 
had  not  the  world  been  so  aghast  at  the  time 
with  the  astounding  facts  of  his  life  that  no 
one  in  that  generation  felt  warranted  to 
make  reply.  It  turns  out  that  the  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era    have    not    been    long 

*Cf.    "Freedom  of  Tihoug'lit  in  Reldg'LOTis  TeaoMng,"  toy  R. 
J.  Cooke,  D.D..   DL.D.,   p.  68  fif. 


90        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

enough  to  bury  the  circumstantial  evidence 
proving  the  apostolic  origin  of  the  Gospels. 
Even  the  rationalists  of  the  present  time 
who  make  any  pretence  to  broad  investiga- 
tion concede  this;  and,  though  they  are  not 
disposed  to  let  this  inning  of  orthodoxy  agi- 
tate much  attention,  we  are  quite  sure  that 
when  history  records  the  rise  and  fall  of  de- 
structive criticism  it  will  mention  this  as 
their  Waterloo. 

CREATING  AND  OPPOSING  CARICATURES. 

It  is  destructive  to  the  new  theologj^  and 
contrary  to  its  spirit  to  admit  any  theory  of 
inspiration  which  would  give  unqualified  au- 
thority even  to  a  correctly  rendered,  rightly 
interpreted  Bible.  It  is  committed  to  a  pro- 
gram of  opposition  at  this  point.  The  method 
of  administering  this  iconoclasm  is  ad  pop- 
ulum.  They  first  pit  the  authority  of  the 
Scriptures  against  the  authority  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  please  the  orthodox  reader  by 
deferring  to  Christ,  choosing  a  person  in- 
stead of  a  document.  Seemingly,  his  utter- 
ances are  treated  as  a  higher  form  of  inspir- 
ation to  be  preferred  before  the  other  writ- 
ings of  the  Bible ;  but  it  soon  turns  out  that 
his  authority  is  taken  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
authority  of  the  Scriptures,  of  which  he 
says,  "They  are  they  which  testify  of  me"; 
and  eventually,  when  Christ  has  been  used 
to  substitute  the  Scriptures,  we  are  asked 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        91 

to  deny  his  deity  and  treat  his  authority  as 
that  of  a  man.  The  treatment  of  the  subject 
of  inspiration  is  illustrative  of  the  treatment 
of  the  subjects  of  atonement,  depravity,  fu- 
ture punishment  and  other  phases  of  ortho- 
dox teaching.  The  crudest  mediaeval  modes 
of  apprehension  are  described  and  then  de- 
molished, the  work  of  destruction  not  ceas- 
ing till  the  pupil  is  brought  securely  over  to 
the  side  of  rationalism.  The  straw  men 
which  have  been  destroyed  in  new  theology 
pulpits  and  class  rooms  during  recent  de- 
cades would  make  a  considerable  decoy  regi- 
ment. In  preparing  a  nauseating  gorge  on 
the  subject  of  inspiration  we  are  reminded 
of  the  Greek  oracles,  of  heathen  trances,  and 
of  the  rhapsodies  of  pagan  priests,  during 
which  times  they  are  supposed  to  make 
exalted  utterances,  and  we  are  asked  to  view 
this  as  illustrative  of  the  evangelical  con- 
ception of  inspiration.  We  are  told  that 
there  is  no  middle  ground  between  this  and 
the  poetic  muses  of  Tennyson,  which,  while 
they  may  have  secured  him  against  prosaic 
and  mediocre  expressions,  were  no  guaran- 
tee against  inaccuracy. 

The  essential  doctrine  of  inspiration  as 
retained  by  Christianity  holds  the  following 
maxims. 

EVIDENCE  THAT  GOD  HAS  SPOKEN. 

1.     Things  cannot  be  made  without  a  mak- 


92        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

er.  A  cause  must  be  equal  to  an  effect,  and  it 
is  easily  presumed  to  be  greater.  It  is  un- 
thinkable that  he  who  formed  the  eye  cannot 
see,  or  he  that  planted  the  ear  cannot  hear. 
It  is  inevitable  that  average  humanity  in  its 
best  stage  of  reflection  should  feel  sure  of 
the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being  in  no 
sense  averse  or  indifferent  to  the  interests 
of  those  creatures  which  represent  the  high- 
est product  of  his  creative  power,  and  en- 
tirely able  to  occupy  their  viewpoint. 

2.  Without  attempting  to  account  for  the 
obvious  chasm  between  the  Creator  and  his 
intelligent  creation,  by  which  direct  and 
common  communication  is  excluded,  only  one 
inference  is  possible  in  the  average  judg- 
ment, and  that  is,  that  our  Maker  is  disposed 
to  communicate  with  us.  (a)  Instinctively 
we  want  to  hear  from  him  and  express  our- 
selves to  him.     (b)   It    is   plainly   seen   by 

malogy  and  contrast  that  we  are  in  trouble; 
something  is  the  matter,  (c)  We  have  a  will, 
and  we  know  he  must  have  a  will ;  and  we  are 
almost  unanimously  assured  that  if  some 
way  is  devised  by  which  his  will  can  be 
communicated  to  us  it  will  be  better  for  us. 

3.  It  is  inevitable,  therefore,  that  man  in 
his  mood  of  better  intelligence  should  expect 
to  find  on  the  earth  a  communication  in  some 
form  from  his  Maker.  True  to  this  assump- 
tion, investigation  proves  that  virtually  all 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        93 

peoples,  throughout  human  history,  have 
been  expecting  a  communication  from  God; 
and  in  their  eagerness  they  have  fostered 
manifold  superstitions  as  fancied  fulfill- 
ments of  their  felt  need.  Like  travelers  in  a 
desert,  crazed  with  thirst,  they  have  chased 
the  mirage  and  drank  the  libations  of  their 
ow^n  feverish  imaginations. 

4.  It  turned  out,  as  the  centuries  advanc- 
ed, that  certain  men  of  exalted  character, 
the  moral  and  spiritual  elite  of  the  world, 
claimed  to  have  received  communications 
from  God.  Certain  ear  marks  different 
from  all  figmental  revelations  should  have 
lent  plausibility  to  their  claims,  (a)  The  one 
speaking  out  from  the  shadows  demanded 
holiness,  separation  from  sin.*  (b)  Though 
choosing  a  family  or  tribe  through  which  to 
make  effective  his  communication  to  man- 
kind, he  represented  himself  not  as  a  tribal 
God,  but  as  recognizing  the  unity  of  the 
world  of  created  intelligences,  and  as  having 
ultimately  an  equal  interest  in  all.f 

5.  The  influence  of  these  men  and  of  their 
professed  divine  revelation  has  never  per- 
ished, has  had  essential  causal  relation  to  the 
best  philanthropy  and  the  best  ethics  of  the 
modern  civilized  world;  and  these  chosen 
representatives  of  humanity  have,  as  a  re- 
sult of  their  alleged  mediation   between   the 

♦Genesis  15:6;  17:1. 
tGenesis  18:18. 


94        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

Creator  and  the  creature,  become  citizens  of 
the  world,  inhabitants  of  the  centuries,  co- 
adjutors with  the  world  movers  of  every  gen- 
eration since  their  time.  There  is  scarcely 
one  of  them  who  could  be  called  an  exception, 
whether  they  figure  in  the  revelation  of  the 
old  or  the  new  dispensation. 

6.  From  the  hands  of  this  outstanding 
group  of  humanity's  peers  have  come  manu- 
scripts out  of  which  have  been  sifted,  with 
painstaking  care,  by  the  profoundest 
scholarship,  a  collection  of  books,  sixty-six, 
as  they  are  now  divided,  whose  authors  im- 
plied by  tone  or  express  statement  that  they 
were  writing  in  the  capacity  of  seers,  "moved 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,""'  whom  deity  had  select- 
ed as  representatives  of  the  ages  to  record  a 
collection  of  facts,  illustrations,  counsels  and 
laws  in  such  a  shape  as  to  embody  in  avail- 
able form  the  essential  truth  pertaining  to 
man's  origin  and  destiny  and  a  disclosure  of 
the  will  of  his  Maker. 

7.  The  writings  of  these  professed  receiv- 
ing agents  of  humanity  originated  within  a 
period  of  about  fifteen  centuries  of  the 
worlds'  history;  and,  notwithstanding  the 
variations  of  temperament,  education,  or 
chronological  vantage  ground,  they  show  a 
uniformity  in  their  ideals  and  breadth  of 
sympathy  and  a  unity  in  scheme  and  objec- 

*2  Samuel  23 :2 ;  2  Peter  1 :21. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        95 

tive  which  argues  for  the  fact  that  they  were 
all  under  the  dominion  of  one  central,  gov- 
erning mind.  The  presence  of  the  local  color- 
ing of  the  age  of  each  writer,  with  the  re- 
lentless portrayal  of  human  nature  as  a  set- 
ting for  these  gems  of  divine  thought,  are 
more  confirming  to  our  faith  in  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  documents  than  would  be  a 
studied  uniformity  which  undertook  to  re- 
fine away  all  sensuous  data.  Like  the  stars 
of  the  heavens  observed  with  a  natural  eye, 
the  Scriptures  present  a  unity  of  lustre  in 
their  ideals,  and  a  uniformity  in  their  ma^ 
terials,  with  no  apparent  systemization ;  but, 
like  the  stars  again,  under  the  lens  of  devout 
analysis  they  present  a  system,  so  manifold 
in  its  conjunctions  and  so  extensive  in  its 
reach  that  scholars  not  blinded  by  the  conceit 
of  unbelief  have  felt  that  this  life  was  too 
short  to  complete  even  an  elementary  chart 
of  the  heavens  of  divine  truth. 

8.  Wherever  the  salt  waters  of  the  sea 
transgress  the  earth,  the  fruits  and  flowers 
fail  and  the  desert  wastes  abound.  If  we  had 
no  other  way  to  determine  the  quality  and 
chemical  content  of  these  waters  this  would 
be  sufficient.  The  Koran,  the  writings  of 
Confucius,  the  oracles  of  Buddha,  indeed 
every  formula  for  solving  man's  problems 
and  enriching  his  hopes,  when  given  suffi- 
cient time  for  the  dead  weight  of  its  inertia  to 


96        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY  ? 

consolidate,  has  constricted  the  germ  of  civ- 
ilization and  given  us  a  community  that  had 
to  have  outside  help  to  prevent  its  going 
from  bad  to  worse.  But  the  Bible,  fairly 
placed  in  any  community  or  nation,  or  as- 
similated in  the  life  of  any  individual,  has 
taken  away  sterility,  released  the  best  germ 
forces,  and  brought  bud,  blossom  and  fruit- 
age as  when  irrigations  from  a  mountain 
lake  are  turned  upon  the  alluvial  valley. 

9.  When  a  man  has  in  his  mine  a  sub- 
stance that  will  fuse  metals  or  absorb  gas 
or  exert  some  other  singular  influence,  and, 
in  trying  to  convince  me  of  the  merits  of  his 
mine,  he  gives  me  some  of  its  product  and 
challenges  me  to  try  it,  I  am  not  fair  if  I  lay 
it  away  on  a  shelf  to  be  covered  with  dust 
and  use  my  influence  as  a  gainsayer  to  heckle 
him  in  the  sale  of  his  stocks  to  develop  his 
mine.  The  Bible  contains  many  striking 
prophecies  which  have  been  fulfilled  and  are 
being  fulfilled  before  our  eyes.  Scholars  can 
only  fail  to  see  this  by  having  their  minds 
prejudiced  through  abstractions  about  the 
Bible.  It  contains  scores  of  promises  which 
the  sincere  heart  may  put  to  a  test  any  day, 
and  which  have  been  tested  and  brought 
blessing  to  thousands  of  people  whose  in- 
telligence and  ability  to  estimate  proof  would 
not  be  questioned  on  any  material  subject. 

10.  There  is  no  questioning  the  malignity, 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        97 

and,  sometimes,  the  sincerity,  of  the  age- 
long attack  which  has  been  made  upon  the 
Bible.  There  is  scarcely  any  thinkable  re- 
source which  has  not  been  drawn  upon  as  a 
means  of  opposition.  We  grant  that  opposi- 
tion is  a  good  advertiser,  and  sometimes  a 
generator  of  sympathy  for  the  victim;  es- 
pecially where  it  is  actuated  by  animosities 
or  emotions  of  fancied  virtue.  But  there  is 
a  form  of  opposition  which  is  laid  in  deep 
design;  which  forgets  no  law  of  psychology; 
which  takes  its  time  and  calls  to  its  service 
an  alliance  of  all  the  available  weapons,  di- 
rected by  the  best  generalship  that  training 
can  produce.  This  form  of  opposition  has 
buried  philosophers,  destroyed  armies,  sunk 
navies,  annihilated  cities,  and  so  completely 
destroyed  nations  that  the  historians  cannot 
unearth  data  to  write  a  chapter  of  their 
history.  That  same  style  of  opposition, 
spanning  centuries  with  its  persistency,  has 
been  directed  against  the  Bible,  shaped  and 
reshaped  by  kings,  statesmen,  philosophers, 
ecclesiastics,  false  prophets,  blackguards  and 
outlaws.  The  weapons  have  been  in  all  forms ; 
from  the  bonfire,  the  shaft  of  sarcasm  and 
the  profane  curse,  to  that  of  denaturing 
sophistry,  perversion,  substitution,  destruc- 
tive lower  criticism  and  destructive  higher 
criticism.  Laws  of  state  and  laws  of  church 
have    been    invoked.    Although    laws    are 


98        WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

multiplying'  to  safeguard  religious  liberty, 
and  although  we  hear  no  one  profanely 
swearing  at  the  Bible  today,  it  was  never  in 
history  subjected  to  an  attack  which  had  a 
better  show  of  success  than  now.  It  was 
never  opposed  with  less  apparent  spleen, 
never  with  more  confidence  of  success,  never 
with  more  serene  complacency,  never  with  a 
greater  illusion  of  superior  scholarship,  and 
never  with  a  more  subtle  intoxication  of  the 
sense  of  their  own  noble  virtues.  But  this 
word  of  God  is  a  thing  of  life.  Its  claims  of 
divine  origin  are  sustained  in  the  way  it  hasi 
■stood  the  test  of  opposition  and  remained 
proof  against  breakage  and  proof  against 
alloy.  Its  elements  are  so  unique  that  it 
will  not  take  up  a  mixture  which  earthly 
alchemists  may  devise  to  denature  its  con- 
tent; and  in  the  matter  of  stability  it  is  as 
permanent  as  the  mundane  heavens.*  The 
names  of  most  of  its  opposers  of  former  gen-  ^ 
erations  have  disappeared  from  history. 
Many  of  them  have  come  to  a  sad  end.  Move- 
ments revolving  around  other  centers,  con- 
trary to  the  Bible,  have  cracked  and  crumb- 
led and  been  abandoned  by  the  children  of 
their  own  champions;  but  the  word  of  God 
abides.  In  estimating  this  unanswerable 
credential  of  God's  word,  a  humble  author 
of  thirty-five  years  ago  wrote  a  four  verse 

*MattluMv  r,:17,  18;   Luike   1G:17;   1   Peter  1:23,  25;   Isaiah 
40:8;  Psialm  119:89 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?        99 

poem,  from  which  we  quote  the  first  two 
verses,  neglecting  the  latter,  in  which  he 
makes  his  application : 

/  "Last  eve  I  stood  before  a  blacksmith's  door  a 

And  heard  the  anvil  ring  its  vesper  chime; 
Then  looking  in  I  saw  upon  the  floor 
Old  hammers  worn  with  beating  years  of  time. 

"  'How  many  anvils  have  you  had,'  said  I,  V 

'To  wear  and  batter  all  these  hammers  so?'  / 

'Just  one,'  he  answered;  then  with  twinkling  eye-—) 
'The  anvil  wears  the  hammer  out,  you  know.'  "t 

THEORY  AND  FACT. 

There  are  short-sighted  people  who  sup- 
pose that  the  fact  of  inspiration  must  be  held 
in  suspense  till  the  theory  is  determined. 
They  suppose  that  the  point  at  which  the 
student  must  first  go  to  work  is  to  determine 
whether  it  is  "verbal"  or  "substantial," 
whether  God  elected  to  employ  the  maximum 
or  the  minimum  of  miraculous  elements  to  se- 
cure the  accuracy  of  Holy  Writ,  whether  Bib- 
lical writers  lost  themselves  in  the  Spirit  or 
whether  their  personal  traits,  education  and 
peculiar  mode  of  expression  were  appropri- 
ated by  the  Holy  Spirit  and  used  as  they 
were  found;  whether  historic  events  were 
refined  out  of  the  crudities  of  profane  his- 
tory and  the  then  existing  traditions,  or 
directly  given  from  the  Lord ;  whether 
events  and  conversations  of  the  time  of  the 
Biblical  writer  were  miraculously  represent- 

tC  B.  Cake  in  "The  Curreat" ;  OMeagio-,  Dee.  27,  1884. 


100      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

ed  to  the  writer,  or  whether  he  kept  notes 
with  a  view  to  his  purposed  authorship,  or 
only  gave  the  substance  of  those  convei'sa- 
tions  which  are  ostensibly  verbatim,  being 
preserved  against  error  in  essence  and 
meaning,  but  not  against  deviation  in  mode 
of  expression.  Whether  the  inspiration  of 
different  parts  of  the  Bible  varies  all  the  way 
from  a  passage  from  the  very  mouth  of  Je- 
hovah, one  hundred  per  cent  verbal  inspira- 
tion, to  a  genealogical  document,  copied 
from  the  archives  by  a  clerk  on  routine  duty. 
It  is  said  that  a  gentleman  unacquainted 
with  law.  when  called  upon  to  preside  over  a 
court  of  law,  asked  some  advice  of  Lord 
Mansfield.  The  advice  was:  ^\^len  you  are 
called  upon  for  a  ruling,  give  it  directly,  and 
firmly,  according  to  your  best  judgment,  and 
you  will  nearly  always  be  right;  but  do  not 
try  to  expound  your  reasons  for  a  ruling,  for 
in  this  you  will  nearly  always  be  wrong.  In 
the  light  of  the  fundamental  proofs  of  the 
fact  of  inspiration  it  is  hard  to  see  how  any 
can  remain  unsettled,  excepting  they  have 
previously  been  spoiled  through  vain  philoso- 
phy;* but  when  we  leave  the  fact  and  under- 
take to  expound  the  modus  operandi  of  in- 
spiration we  are  nearly  sure  to  make  some 
mistakes,  because  the  acceptance  of  facts 
was  God's  original  design  for  us,  and  the  fa- 

•Colossians  2:8. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?     101 

cilities  for  constructing  an  adequate  theory 
explaining  the  how  of  inspiration  have  not 
been  placed  in  our  hands.  We  would  not  on 
this  account  shut  the  door  of  research  or 
hush  the  instinct  of  interrogation  in  the  hu- 
man mind ;  indeed  we  would  not  object  to  un- 
folding our  views  on  all  the  questions  above 
suggested,  if  space  permitted ;  but  we  must 
hold  ourselves  to  recognize  that  the  main 
point  of  emphasis  is  in  the  fact  of  inspira- 
tion, which  is  gloriously  settled ;  and  if  we  do 
not  know  just  how  it  took  place,  which  we  do 
not,  this  limitation  need  not  affect  the  con- 
sistency and  vigor  of  our  faith. 

INDISPENSABLE  AND  SUFFICIENT. 

In  every  age  there  have  been  scriptures 
(writings)  which  seryed  their  purpose  and 
perished,  or  were  filed  with  the  antiqui- 
ties, but  the  Scriptures  are  inbreathed  of 
God,*  who  knew  that  there  was  one  branch 
of  knowledge  which  could  not  be  extorted 
from  the  bosom  of  nature,  or  built  from  the 
materials  of  this  world.  Man  may  begin 
with  a  hand  full  of  pebbles  and  a  string,  and 
attain  a  system  of  mathematics  by  which  he 
x:an  measure  the  dimensions  of  the  universe ; 
but  if  he  wishes  to  correct  his  own  heart  he 
must  turn  to  the  Word  of  God.    He  can  begin 

*"A11  Soriptnre  is  ftiven  by  Inspiration  of  God,  and  is 
prafltable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  in- 
stniction  in  rishteousness;  that  the  man  of  God  may  be 
perfect,  thorong-hly  furnished  unto  alll  good  works."  2 
Timothy  3:16,  17. 


102      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

with  the  primary  laws  of  thought  and  write 
volumes  of  worldly  wisdom;  but  if  he  wants 
reliable  instruction  in  the  way  of  righteous- 
ness he  must  turn  to  the  Bible,  He  may  syn- 
thesize the  fragrance  of  flowers  in  his  labor- 
atory or  coax  the  fruits  of  the  field  into  high 
degrees  of  perfection ;  but  he  who  is  highest 
among  created  things  must  turn  to  the  Most 
High  when  he  would  seek  the  perfection  of 
his  soul.  This  recourse  to  God  is  had 
through  the  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises  of  his  word.*  Man  can  find  the 
fuel  for  his  winters  and  tap  the  cooling  veins 
of  the  earth  for  his  summers ;  but  when  he 
wishes  to  furnish  his  life  with  good  works 
and  become  skilled  in  the  higher  arts  of  ser- 
vice to  God  and  man,  he  must  take  counsel 
from  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

The  sufficiency  of  the  Scriptures  has  been 
alluded  to  as  an  inductive  proof  that  they 
came  from  God.  He  who  claims  that  they 
need  something  added  to  fulfill  the  object  for 
which  they  are  given,  proves  his  lack  of  ac- 
quaintance with  their  manifold  instructions. 
Consciously  or  unconsciously,  the  writers  of 
the  libraries  of  the  world  have  derived  from 
this  Book  the  best  ideals  of  their  own  pro- 

*2  Peter  1  :S,  4.  "Acoordling  as  hits  divine  power  hath 
griven  unto  us  alil  tlhing's  that  pertain  unto  life  amd  godli- 
ne.sis,  througlh  i!he  kncwled'ge  of  him  that  hath  called  us 
to  glory  and  virtue:  Whereby  ^are  given  unto  us  exceeding 
great  and  precious  (promiiises;  that  by  theise  ye  might  be 
partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  having  escaped  the  corrup- 
tion that  is  in  the  world  tbr<>ugh  lust," 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      103 

ductions,  their  most  impressive  imagery,  to- 
gether with  the  spirit  of  their  strongest  ap- 
peals and  the  keynote  of  their  every  psalm 
of  hope.  Take  its  influence  out  of  the  libra- 
ries of  the  world,  and  they  would  be  sterile ; 
take  its  influence  out  of  the  social  life  of  the 
world  and  all  ideals  of  human  brotherhood 
would  stagger  into  the  shadows.  Take  its 
influence  out  of  the  political  government  of 
the  world  and  the  average  civilized  man 
would  wish  for  death. 

It  is  up  to  date.  Like  a  highly  polished 
mirror  it  reflects  the  scenes  of  the  passing 
days;  and  when  it  does  not  supplement  the 
intuitions  of  wise  men  so  as  to  show  them  the 
major  events  of  the  world  in  advance  of  their 
arrival,  it  so  interprets  the  output  of  time's 
revolving  wheel  that  when  events  do  come 
their  meaning  is  more  promptly  defined  and 
their  issues  more  wholesomely  solved  by 
leaders  who  read  and  respect  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    ATONEMENT    AND    MODERN 
THOUGHT. 

The  objection  of  the  new  theology  to  the 
atonement  in  the  blood  of  Christ  is  based 
upon  a  new  theory  of  man's  relation  to  hia 
Maker.  The  new  theory  of  relationship  be- 
tween God  and  man  is  contingent  upon  the 
doctrine  of  spontaneous  generation. 

If  we  are  to  view  man  in  a  higher  scale  to- 
day than  he  has  ever  been  before,  if  we  are 
to  think  of  his  attainments  in  a  line  of  grad- 
ual unfoldings,  starting  at  zero,  in  archaic 
ages,  and  neglecting  all  epochs  in  his  ascent, 
each  millennium  in  our  backward  glance  will 
show  man  less  responsible,  less  amenable 
to  law,  and  less  capable  of  apprehending  law, 
till  the  imagination  follows  him  back  to  a 
stage  of  consummate  innocency,  with  a  nega- 
tive sinlessness  like  that  of  a  post  or  a  head 
of  cabbage.  In  line  with  this  reasoning,  sin 
means  nothing  but  that  man  is  below  the 
standard.  Not  that  he  was  above  and  fell 
below,  but  that  he  has  never  been  above ;  he 
is  only  on  his  way  up,  and  hence  there  rests 
upon  the  race  no  great  generic  blame,  no 
"Adamic  sin;"  and  no  preternatural  system 

104 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      105 

of  evil  exists  in  the  world.*  Man  has  not 
broken  the  law,  but  has  simply  come  in  sight 
of  its  ideals  and  begun  to  learn  to  keep  it 
with  uncertain  degrees  of  constancy,  which 
improves  with  the  advance  of  centuries.  Un- 
der this  scheme,  his  responsibility  is  no  high- 
er at  any  juncture  than  his  attainments.  Not 
that  individual  offenders  are  to  be  excused ; 
they  may  even  be  cut  off,  as  false  branches 
that  spoil  the  symmetry  of  a  tree  in  its 
growth;  but  sinners,  even  criminals,  are  to 
be  regarded  purely  in  the  light  of  unfortu- 
nates, who  have  no  part  in  the  breaking  of  a 
fundamental  law  of  the  universe,  who  there- 
fore need  no  atonement  to  make  possible 
their  recovery  to  rectitude  and  blessedness.f 
On  this  thought  is  built  a  doctrine  of  salva- 
tion through  education  and  human  uplift. 
The  more  favored  members  of  the  race  are 
the  saviors    of    the    less    favored.    In  this 


*"T'he  race  -was  born  with  passHons  of  animailiism  aind 
self-wi!il  that  -were  not  sinful  until  the  ihlgiher  life  of  the 
spirit  hart  beciome  developed.  But  when  the  leistate  of  gen- 
■ndne  ihumanity  hiaid  been  reiached,  animalism  amd  self-will 
were  not  nonmal  to  it,  bait  were  false  and  ideigrajding  ele- 
ments, fatal  to  the  Ihig-her  life  unlesis  they  were  rejected ; 
and  througrh  the  consent  of  the  ^huiman  will  *o  the  now  ab- 
normfal  rule  of  lower  po-niers,  what  haid  ibefare  been  inno- 
cemt  paissed  Into  sin." 

"An  Ontline  of  Cihrastia;n  Tiheoilogy",  p.  240.  William 
Newton  Clarke,  D.D. 

iiSo  far  from  being  new  or  exalted  In  its  antecedents, 
this  in  substaince  is  the  same  view  on  sin  and  atonement  as 
iheild  by  :\Iohaimimed'anism.  With  ifihem  it  is  said :  "The 
poteiaey  of  .sin  is  mot  recognized;  evil  is  only  an  indilvid- 
Uia'l,  not  an  hisitorical  power;  hence  there  is  no  need  of  re- 
demption." "Isikum:  A  ChaMenig-e  To  Faith,"  p.  120  iSa.m- 
nel  M.  Zwemer,  F.  R.  G.  S. 


106      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

scheme  Christ  is  indeed  accorded  the  highest 
place ;  but  he  differs  only  in  degree  from  oth- 
er champions  of  human  salvation.  We  fol- 
low him  when  we  serve  mankind  unselfishly ; 
and  the  unperishable  magnitude  of  his  influ- 
ence at  this  point,  including  the  climactic 
sacrifice  in  his  death,  makes  him  the  leader 
of  all  leaders  in  the  upward  march  of  hu- 
manity, and  justly  entitles  him  to  be  called 
the  Savior.  In  keeping  with  this  thought, 
Christ's  death  was  an  unfortunate,  unnec- 
essary tragedy ;  but  good  has  come  out  of  it, 
because  of  its  powerful  appeal  to  motives  of 
unselfish  service;  and  that  which  need  not 
have  been  becomes  a  mighty  asset  to  the 
church  as  an  incentive  to  noble  service  and  a 
basis  of  appeal  to  erring  humanity. 

As  for  the  hope  of  humanity,  the  salvage 
scheme  of  the  new  theology  is  characterized 
with  undimmed  optimism.  In  answering  the 
question,  "Watchman,  what  of  the  night?" 
it  holds  all  the  cordial  that  a  heavy  hearted 
inquirer  could  wish.  The  faithfulness  of  the 
church  may  hasten  the  realization  of  a  sin- 
ner's hope,  but  nothing  can  finally  defeat 
this  realization.  Human  nature  may  be  re^ 
lied  upon  to  reform  and  come  to  its  own, 
somewhere  down  the  line.  If  man  has  an 
immortal  soul  and  a  future  life,  inductions 
based  upon  the  nature  of  God  and  the  known 
instances  of  human  response  lead  the  new 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      107 

theologian  to  say  that  there  is  a  probation 
beyond  the  grave,  in  which,  somewhere  in 
the  vale  of  mysterious  shadows,  every  sinner 
will  finally  get  to  God.* 

PRESCRIBING  FOR  THE  WORLD'S  EPIDEMIC. 

Thus  in  brief  have  we  stated  modern  relig- 
ious thought  in  its  effort  to  carry  forward 
the  allegiances  of  the  past  and  connect  the 
proposed  Christian  institutions  of  tomorrow 
with  the  revered,  but  discarded  Christian  in- 
stitutions of  yesterday.  It  will  be  seen  that 
we  have  not  undertaken  to  prejudice  their 
case  by  an  unfair  emphasis  or  ironical  de- 
scription. While  this  statement  cannot  em- 
body all  the  inflections  of  individual  expo- 
nents of  the  new  theology  tendency,  its  terms 
in  the  mean  would  be  proudly  espoused  by 
scores  of  the  foremost  instructors  of  theolo- 
gy in  our  seminaries  and  Biblical  depart- 
ments of  Church  colleges,  as  well  as  by  a 
large  number  of  forward  looking  city  pas- 
tors, in  evangelical  denominations. 

No  one  can  deny  the  cleverness  of  the  new 
theology  plan  of  salvation.  Its  diagnosis  of 
its  patient's  ailment  is  hypothetical ;  but,  as- 

*Even  one  who  has  been  accorded  a  place  in  the  orthodox 
class  boirrows  this  view  from  the  "progressives"  and  'han- 
idles  -sympathetically  the  theory  that  "it  is  not  like  G-od  ibo 
fix  a  lime  heyiomd  ■wbicTi  he  win  not  allow  change,  if  change 
is  iposslble  in  the  nature  of  the  case;  that  judgment  upon 
the  deeds  done  in  the  body,  final  so  far  as  thiis  life  is  (con- 
cerned, does  not  preclude  judigments  UipoTi  future  pertiodiS 
in  their  season;  that  the  ihints  of  Scripture  in  1  Pet.  3:18- 
20,  4:6,  denote  in  the  apositolic  mind  the  thought  that 
ohaoge  is   posaiible   In  ithe.  life  beyond."     Ibid,  474. 


108      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

suming  the  diagnosis  to  be  correct,  the  reme- 
dy is  rational  and  scientific;  and  the  most 
inconsistent  people  in  the  world,  religiously, 
,   are  those  evangelical  Christians  who  are  ed- 
j    ucated  up  to  the  Darwinian  view  of  man's 
'    origin  and  still  try  to  make  place  for  an 
,    epoch  of  spiritual  regeneration.     While  the 
\  rank  and  file  of  evolutionists  may  feel  that 
their  position  on  the  nature  of  sin  is  in  its 
substance  final  and  conclusive,  the  profound 
philosophers  who  lead  the  procession  of  hu- 
man thought  are  not  quite  so  sure.     With 
them,  it  is  felt  that  another  word  may  yet  be 
spoken  upon  the  meaning  of  sin,  upon  the 
weird  mystery  of  heredity,  along  with  the 
unexpounded  metaphysics    of    the    psychic 
world.     But,  while  they  wait  for  that  more 
illuminating  word,  the  old  prescription  re- 
jected, there  must  be  an  emergency  formula. 
The  new  theology  gospel  of  social  service 
and  education  is  the  emergency  prescription 
for  a  very  sick  man,  upon  whom  a  diagnosis 
has  been  made,  but  one  which,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  greatest  doctors,  is  not  final, 
since  it  fails  to  demonstrate  the  origin  of 
the  trouble.    But,  painful  as  it  is,  in  the  mind 
of  one  who  wishes  to  be  expert  in  his  pro- 
fession, it  sometimes  becomes  necessary  to^ 
prescribe  for  an  epidemic  before  the  malady 
is  perfectly  understood.     This  prescription 
is  called  empirical.    It  is  like  grandmother's 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      109 

treatment  for  appendicitis;  it  may  help,  but 
it  does  not  cure. 

The  preachers  of  the  old  gospel 
which  weathered  the  Roman  persecu- 
tions of  the  first  centuries  after  Christ, 
which  turned  cities  upside  down,  to  which 
we  owe  the  founding  of  all  the  great  mission 
movements  of  the  pagan  world,  and  which 
has  sustained  its  martyrs  in  the  lion's  den 
and  at  the  fiery  stake,  believe  in  education 
and  social  service.  They  rejoice  that  social 
seivice  is  being  reduced  to  a  finer  art  in  this 
more  enlightened  day,  and  they  recognize  in 
it  a  child  and  a  handmaid  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  They  are  certain,  however,  that  it 
may  be  a  palliative  but  not  a  cure,  and  that 
he  who  in  this  connection  would  substitute 
the  tvord  "cure"  has  imposed  a  criminal  de- 
ception upon  a  suffering  world.  Education 
and  social  service  treat  the  symptoms  of  a 
disease  which  no  human  mind  can  compre- 
hend, but  which  has  been  identified  by  our 
Maker,  through  his  revealed  word.  It  is  held 
by  the  old  gospel,  and  verified  with  a  good 
show  of  success,  that  though  sin  is  a  disease 
whose  symptoms  will  persist  in  this  life, 
after  the  basic  trouble  has  been  healed,  edu- 
cation and  social  service  can  relieve  the 
symptoms,  and  that  this  indeed  is  their  func- 
tion. These  movements  of  humanitarianism 
are  good  in  their  place,  they  are  a  fine  emer- 


110      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

gency  prescription ;  but  soothing  syrups  can- 
not take  the  place  of  cathartics,  and  oint- 
ments cannot  remove  gangrene.  If  the  old 
gospel  must  go  there  must  be  a  better  substi- 
tute than  has  yet  been  found ;  but,  since  this 
gospel  cost  the  supreme  sacrifice  of  the  Son 
of  God,  we  may  be  sure  that  a  better  substi- 
tute is  unavailable. 

ATONEMENT   BASED   ON    HUMAN    NEED. 

What  is  the  gospel  of  the  cross?  Just  as 
there  is  a  modern  thought  denaturing  or  re- 
jecting it,  there  is  a  modern  thought  appre- 
hending it.  It  is  not  rational  to  say  that  the 
analogies  by  which  we  appreciate  the  atone- 
ment cannot  be  better  understood.  Nothing 
is  gained  by  a  dogged  contention  for  the 
theoretical  phases  of  the  question,  the  inflec- 
tions of  the  doctrine  which  do  not  affect  the 
fact ;  and  the  orthodox  writer  who  excites 
himself  into  seeing  "logical"  sequences  from 
analogical  premises,  and  who  berates  his 
brethren,  either  pro  or  con,  upon  irresistible 
grace,  final  perseverance,  or  the  necessary 
content  of  substitution,  need  not  feel  that  all 
who  treat  him  as  mediaeval  do  thereby  class 
themselves  as  unorthodox  and  destructive. 
It  will  be  in  place  at  this  time  for  us  to  go 
briefly  into  the  essentials  of  the  Biblical  fact 
of  the  atonement. 

Divine  law  is  revealed  to  man,  not  evolved 
in  human  society.    While  man's  appreciation 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      Ill 

of  this  law  has  been  progressive,  he  has 
known  from  the  beginning  its  essential  point, 
calling  for  obedience  and  loyalty. 

We  have  no  obligation  to  explain  moral 
agency,  which  can  only  be  understood  in  the 
light  of  a  more  perfect  world ;  but  man  had 
the  power  to  violate  divine  law,  and  he  did 
so,  early  in  the  history  of  the  race,  placing 
himself  subject  to  a  penalty  without  which 
law  could  not  exist;  and,  by  the  one  act, 
bringing  the  entire  race  into  an  automatic 
condemnation. 

Man  not  only  placed  himself  subject  to  a 
penalty  when  he  sinned,  but  the  penalty 
went  immediately  into  effect,*  producing 
spiritual  death.  Spiritual  death  is  a  synonym 
for  separation  from  God.  It  is  the  first,  and 
only  immediate  penalty  for  sin.  There  are 
dire  consequences,  of  every  description,  ex- 
pressed in  the  words,  "The  way  of  transgres- 
sors is  hard"t,  "The  wicked  shall  come  to 
sheoljt,  and  "These  shall  go  away  into  ever- 
lasting punishment."** 

Separation  from  God,  which  in  the  fact  of 
the  fall  is  the  portion  of  the  whole  human 
race,  has  in  itself  no  demerit,  but  it  results 
from  the  demerit  of  sin.     It  followed  man's 


*"In  tbe  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  isairelv 
idie."  Genesis  2:17.  Cf.  also  Isaiaih  59:2;  Romans  6:23; 
2  Corintihianis  5:14  and  1   Jiohn  3:8. 

tProverbs  13:15. 

tFsalm  P:17,  R.  V. 

**M.itthew  2o:4C. 


112      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

sin  as  a  direct  execution  of  justice,  to  pre- 
serve the  sanctity  of  law  and  the  integrity  of 
divine  government.  As  a  result  of  this  sep- 
aration there  is  a  separateness  of  nature,  a 
divergency  from  the  will  of  God,  in  the  heart 
of  every  child  of  man.  This,  we  call  de- 
pravity or  original  sin.  The  words  of  Paul 
could  have  meant  no  less  than  this  when  he 
said  that  in  Adam  all  die,  and  all  have  come 
short  of  the  glory  of  God.**  We  have 
ground  to  believe  that  this  separateness  of 
nature,  resulting  automatically  in  the  fact 
that  man  is  separated  from  God,  is  also  en- 
hanced by  the  direct  perverting  energy  of 
Satan.  The  situation  is  therefore  so  complex 
that  no  one  can  analyze  and  expound  "origi- 
nal sin."  To  assume  the  universal  sinfulness 
of  man  is  necessary  to  make  intelligible  the 
class  of  utterances  bearing  upon  the  subject 
in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  necessary  to  explain 
the  universality  of  the  atonement  revealed  in 
the  Scriptures,*  and  the  universality  of  the 
need  of  justification  by  faith, f  which  proofs* 
are  valid  only  to  those  who  believe  the  Bible. 
evolution's  failure  to  explain. 

But,  laying  the  Bible  aside,  the  inherent 
sinfulness  of  man  is  the  only  explanation  for 
the  universal  trend  to  perverse  conduct,  base 

**1    CorintManis    15:22;    Riomaims    3:28;    Epheisirans    2:3. 
*Jobn   3:16;     2   CorintMans  5:15;     1     Timottny     2:6;     1 
J«hn  2:2. 

tRomiaas  3:19-31. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      113 

actions,  and  violation  of  natural  and  moral 
law,  in  every  human  tribe  on  earth.  No- 
where among  the  creatures  below  man  do  we 
find  a  widespread  inherent  tendency  to  vio- 
late the  laws  of  their  being.  In  this  respect 
the  chasm  is  measureless,  between  the  most 
innocent  human  tribe  and  the  most  degener- 
ate species  of  animals;  the  animals,  follow- 
ing the  bent  of  their  nature,  unrestrained, 
come  out  as  animals  ought  to  come ;  but  the 
people,  unbridling  their  tempers,  their  lusts 
and  their  avarice,  go  in  as  men  and  come  out 
as  devils.  If  the  evolutionary  hypothesis 
were  true,  of  the  ascent  of  human  tribes  by 
radiating  sectors  from  primal  apes,  we 
should  expect  occasionally,  on  some  side  of 
the  earth,  to  find  a  tribe  of  people  who  had 
not  strayed  any  farther  from  the  laws  of 
their  being  than  have  the  apes ;  and  we 
should  expect,  also,  to  find  some  of  the  tribes 
of  higher  civilization  in  whom  evolution  had 
done  its  best,  arriving  at  a  high  level  of 
hereditary  rectitude,  where  simple  training 
could  insure  universal  virtue.  But  in  this 
latter  field  of  proof  the  new  theology's  expla- 
nation of  sin  breaks  down  more  seriously 
than  elsewhere;  for  it  is  almost  invariably 
the  case  that  people  in  the  middle  walks  of 
life,  with  medium  attainments,  are  naturally 
freer  from  diabolism  and  perverse  living 
than  the  upper  strata  of  society. 


114      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

THE  SYMBOLISM  OF  BLOOD. 
While  the  principle  of  sacrifice  and  substi- 
tution is  deeply  written  in  the  analogies  of 
nature  and  the  annals  of  human  history,  all 
that  we  know  about  a  divinely  conferred 
atonement  is  what  we  learn  from  the  Scrip- 
tures. When  they  say  that  without  the  shed- 
ding of  blood  there  is  no  remission  of  sin,* 
and  carry  that  assumption  consistently 
through  the  era  of  tuitionary  types,  to  be  cli- 
maxed in  the  voluntary  suffering,  as  an  al- 
leged necessity,!  of  Him  around  whom  all 
sacred  writings  find  their  center  of  gravity ; 
when  they  find  in  the  blood  of  the  most 
worthy  One  a  mysterious  voice  of  authority 
Iby  which  alone  ultimate  deliverance  may 
come  to  the  souls  of  men,$  the  human  phi- 
losopher may  be  amazed;  but  only  he  who 
denies  the  existence  of  mystery  will  set  him- 
self to  making  light  of  that  which  he  cannot 
understand.  A  tribe  is  growing  up  today, 
very  near  the  altars  of  the  sanctuary,  who 
are  so  sure  that  the  saints  of  all  ages  have 
made  a  one  hundred  per  cent  mistake  in 
their  faith  in  blood  atonement  that  they  are 
free  to  laugh  in  derision  at  the  crude  con- 
trition of  their  brethren.  It  is  wondered 
how  the  same  generation  could  contain  such 


*'Levltlcus  17:11;  Hebrew  »:22. 

tJoJhn  10:17,  18;  Matthew  16:21;  Mark  6:31;  »:12;   Luke 
9:22;   Acts  17:3;   Hebrew  9:16;    Daniel   9:26. 
JHebrew  12:24;  9:14;  10:12. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      115 

extremes  of  deficient  and  ample  attainment; 
could  hold  a  class  of  people  so  far  behind  the 
norm  of  truth  and  a  class  so  well  up.  But 
we  might  be  reminded  that  a  religion 
whose  refinements  left  out  the  revolting  sym- 
bolisms of  blood  is  not  exclusively  new  and 
modern,**  nor  does  it  necessarily  follow  that 
its  champions  have  reached  a  more  dependa- 
ble plane  in  their  ideals  of  kindness,  mercy 
and  justice.* 

DOGMATISM   AND  ITS  CONTRAST. 

A  fact  is  a  theory  which  has  reach- 
ed the  experimental  stage;  which  has 
been  verified  by  the  tests  of  a  unanimous 
jury.  A  theory,  if  correct,  is  a  symbol  or 
apprehension  of  a  yet  unrealized  fact.  A 
matter  may  therefore  exist  in  the  form  of 
theory,  espoused  or  rejected,  in  one  segment 
of  humanity,  when  it  has  taken  the  propor- 
tions of  a  fact  with  another  class.  Such,  for 
instance,  was  the  Copernican  "theory"  that 
the  sun  is  the  center  of  the  solar  system. 
When  this  first  began  to  take  the  place  of  the 
Ptolemaic  theory  that  the  earth  was  the  cen- 
ter  of   the   solar    system,   there    were   two 

**"In  prooS'PiS  of  time  it  came  to  pass  that  Cajin  broug'lit 
of  tlie  fruit  of  the  griOiund  an  ofEering  unto  tJhe  iLord.  And 
Abel,  he  also  brought  of  the  flrstlingSi  lof  Ms  flock  and  of 
the  fat  thereof.  Amd  the  Lord  haid  respect  unto  Abel  and 
his  offerings-.  But  unto  Caiiu  and  ihis  offering  he  had  not 
respect."    Genesis  3:3-5. 

'"And  Cain  wis  very  wrotth,  and  his  oountenanee  fell 
....  And  Cain  talked  with  Ihis  brother :  and  it  came  to 
paisis,  when  ithey  -n'ere  In  the  field,  that  Oain  rose  up 
against  Abell  'Ms  brother  and  slew  ihim."    G-e'nesis  4  :.5-8. 


\ 


116      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

schools  of  thought;  but,  finally,  that  which 
though  seemingly  a  fact,  had  never  been  any- 
thing but  an  illusion,  was  forced  out  of  re- 
cognition, as  the  world  received  a  mathemat- 
ica]  demonstration  of  the  Copernican  "the- 
ory." Today  we  are  so  friendly  to  the  doc- 
trine that  none  but  a  Parson  Jasper  would 
feel  like  using  the  word  theoiy.  It  is  a  fact. 
Here  is  the  province  of  dogmatism.  Dog- 
matism consists  in  that  note  of  confidence 
with  which  an  individual  announces  a  fact, 
as  distinguished  from  the  spirit  of  investiga- 
tion and  tolerance  in  the  tone  with  which  he 
announces  a  theory.  A  dogmatist,  in  the 
worse  sense  of  that  word,  is  one  who  allows 
no  quarters  to  his  audience  when  he  an- 
nounces a  theory.  Some  of  our  modem  in- 
structors want  their  students  to  come  with 
"open  minds,"  meaning  that  they  would  have 
them  scrap  their  facts  with  their  theories 
and  start  anew.  The  thought  is,  that  the 
spirit  of  the  age  demands  freedom  from 
dogmatism;  but  this  is  a  fallacy.  The  age 
demands  facts,  and  the  ear-mark  of  a  mes- 
sage from  a  man  who  has  the  facts  is  a  kind 
of  serene,  respectful  dogmatism.  This  kind 
of  authority  is  what  gave  power  to  the  words 
of  Christ*  If  I  know  that  I  am  seated  on  a 
chair,  I  gain  nothing  for  the  reputation  of 
scientific  discourse  by  weighing  the  specu- 


•Mark  1 :22. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      117 

lations'of  men  who  wish  to  take  my  time  and 
the  time  of  the  audience  asking  me  to  make 
sure  that  it  is  not  a  boulder.  A  theo- 
logical professor  who  asks  a  student  to  treat 
as  untrue  and  prove  again  the  experiences  of 
grace  which  are  in  his  heart  or  the  fact  of 
the  atonement  and  the  essential  verities  of 
the  gospel  which  have  been  confirmed  by  a 
million  witnesses  and  tested  thousands  of 
times  in  the  audiences  of  mankind,  has  re- 
quired his  student  to  stultify  himself.  The., 
way  to  study  theology  is  to  put  down  the 
facts  as  a  posit  and  build  around  them;  not 
lay  them  down  and  go  oif  with  "open  mind" 
and  leave  them,  promising  to  return  and  take 
them  up  when  school  is  out,  provided  we  do 
not  find  something  that  suits  us  better.  If  a 
man  is  led  to  commit  such  a  presumptuous 
blunder  he  is  sure  to  find  something  that 
suits  him  better,  for  when  a  man  tampers 
with  his  faculty  of  perception  it  goes  back  on 
him  and  puts  him  in  a  world  where  things 
are  not  what  they  seem. 

MEANING  OF  THE  DEATH   OF  CHRIST. 

As  Christians,  we  are  authorized  to  teL 
people  that  Jesus  Christ  died  for  them..  Thig 
is  found  to  attract  attention  everywhere. 
There  is  a  catchword  in  this  announcement 
that  human  psychology  may  account  for.  It 
is  like  many  other  wonderful  and  beautiful 


118      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

things  that  have  happened  in  the  history  of 
mankind ;  and  as  such  it  marks  a  line  of 
thought  that  never  fails  to  impress  the  finer 
sentiments  and  move  the  emotions  of  the  un- 
sophisticated ;  of  all,  indeed,  but  those  whose 
glutted  ears  have  spoiled  the  law  of  reac- 
tion in  their  souls.  Naturally,  the  New  Tes- 
tament announcement  of  Christ's  death  ex- 
ceeds all  similar  sacrifices  in  its  appeal  be- 
cause of  its  compass  of  sympathy ;  and  the 
sincerity  and  intelligence  of  this  vast 
scheme  of  substitution  is  confirmed  in  his 
deliberate  appraisal  of  all  human  beings, 
which  preceded  the  tragic  transaction,  and 
in  the  coolly  wrought  out  program  for  carry- 
ing to  the  last  man  due  information  of  the 
efficient  sacrifice  which  was  being  made  in 
his  behalf.  Both  of  these  measures  were 
revolutionary  in  their  day.  The  world  wag 
made  up  of  castes;  and  the  thought  of  an 
equal  intrinsic  worth  of  the  soul  of  a  slave 
and  the  soul  of  a  king*  was  exotic.  It  was 
peculiar  to  Jesus  Christ;  there  was  nothing 
in  the  soil  of  the  human  thinking  of  the 
times  that  would  have  produced  it.  It  in- 
cluded that  thought  of  the  equality  of  the 
rights  of  labor  and  capital  and  of  the  equal 
footing  of  man  and  woman  before  the  door 
of  opportunity,  which  has  characterized  the 
higher  civilization  of  our  day.     The  concept 

*  Revelation  1:6;  5:10. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      119 

in  the  opening  words  of  the  American  "Dec- 
laration of  Independence"*  could  hardly 
have  been  sprung  in  the  human  mind  had  it 
not  been  initiated  and  fostered  as  the  ration- 
al background  of  the  purpose  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  lay  down  his  life  for  "the  whole  world." 
And  as  for  the  publicity  program,  the  plan 
of  "world  evangelism,"  which  Christ  coupled 
with  this  theory  of  human  worth,  his  view  of 
the  value  of  souls  and  the  reach  of  his  vision 
into  the  future  made  that  so  ambitious  in  its 
aspects,  so  unlike  the  wildest  dream  of  any 
living  sage,  that  the  human  imagination  of 
his  time  could  only  grasp  at  it,  without  be- 
ing able  to  entertain  it. 

But  in  accounting  for  the  effect  on  the 
human  mind,  produced  by  the  Gospel's  main 
announcement,  that  Christ  died  for  us,  we 
are  called  to  appreciate  another  law.  Deeper 
than  the  natural  appeal  of  unselfish  sacrifice, 
deeper  than  the  revolutionary  effect  of  hisi 
levelling  appraisal  of  mankind,  is  that  heav- 
enly mystery  of  the  atonement,  upon  which 
the  human  mind,  unspoiled  by  vain  philoso- 
phies, so  readily  lays  hold  by  a  kind  of  in- 
tuition. There  is  something  wonderful,  a 
wisdom  superhuman,  involved  in  the  death 
of  Christ.  This  is  attested  by  the  thousands 
of  volumes  in  which  the  wise  men  of  the  cen- 


*"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men 
are  created  equal,  that  they  are  endoT\'ed  by  thetlr  Creator 
with  certain  unalienable  Rights,  that  lamong  these  are 
Life,  Liibeity,  and  the  pursuit  d  Happiness." 


120      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

turies  have  tried  to  interpret  the  mystery,  or 
make  it  sufticiently  available  for  mankind 
to  realize  upon  its  provisions.  It  was  so 
outstanding  in  its  significance  that  prophets 
foresaw  it  and  spoke  of  it  with  a  wisdom  not 
of  themselves  or  of  their  time.  We  are  not 
certain  but  that  angels  have  been  students 
of  the  philosophy  of  the  atonement. f 

THE  UNDISPUTED  FACTS. 

The  early  church  had  less  leisure  for  in- 
vestigation and  was  more  serene  in  the  pres- 
ence of  mystery,  perhaps  because  they  wit- 
nessed more  mysteries  and  were  not  flushed 
with  so  much  success  in  the  field  of  analysis 
as  is  the  modern  man.  At  any  rate,  they 
confined  themselves  to  preaching  the  atone- 
ment as  a  fact,  under  the  slogan  that  Christ 
died  for  us ;  and  they  gained  much  by  their 
concentration  and  simplicity.*  The  greatest 
breach  in  Christendom  grew  out  of  a  depar- 
ture from  this,  when  the  philosophy  of  the 
converted  Greek  mind  undertook  to  elaborate 
and  extend  the  Scriptural  analogies  upon  the 
subject  and  insist  upon  their  having  an  es'- 
sential  logical  sequence. 

There  are  two  lists  of  utterances  upon  the 
atonement ;  one  under  the  head  of  facts  and 
the  other  under  the  head  of  theories.  These 
maxims  are  not  disparate,  and  it  is  not  im- 

tl   Peter  1:12. 

*1  Peter  2:24:   Isaiah  S3. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      121 

possible  for  an  item  under  the  latter  head  to 
be  shoved  up  to  a  place  under  the  former,  ac- 
cording to  the  rule  by  which  theories  turn 
to  facts.  But  the  atonement  is  such  a  divine 
affair  that  its  facts  are  patent,  and  theories 
usually  are  destined  to  remain  theories  till 
we  go  hence  into  the  realm  of  more  perfect 
understanding. 

The  utterances  of  New  Testament  preach- 
ers may  be  safely  accepted  as  facts.  They 
taught : 

1.  That  the  atonement  made  by  Christ 
necessitated  his  suffering  and  death ; 

2.  That  it  was  an  extreme  demand  grow- 
ing out  of  the  fact  that  the  whole  human 
race  was  fallen  and  hopeless; 

3.  That  the  one  making  the  atonement 
had  and  must  have  unique  qualifications — 
divine  attributes  for  the  sake  of  worthiness 
and  human  attributes  for  the  sake  of  media- 
torial fitness; 

4.  That  the  one  making  the  sacrifice 
must  make  it  voluntarily  on  his  own  part,  as 
well  as  by  bequest  or  free  gift  on  the  part  of 
the  Godhead  with  which  he  was  identified ; 

5.  That  the  atonement  was  a  measure  in 
the  mind  of  God  long  before  its  execution,  to 
meet  an  anticipated  need; 

6.  That  it  was  adequate  in  its  merit  and 
eflnciency  to  save  from  the  lowest  depth  of 


122      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

sin  to  the  highest  level  of  holiness  and  hap- 
piness. 

These  are  the  facts  undisputed  in  the  main 
channel  of  the  Christian  system  from  the  be- 
ginning; and  there  is  no  change  of  verbiage 
or  new  statement  for  the  sake  of  modern 
modes  of  thought  that  can  budge  one  of  these 
unequivocal  facts  without  introducing  a  pro- 
cess which  will  infallibly  denature  the 
Christian  religion.  Two  more  "facts"  may 
be  added,  which  received  the  cool  treatment 
of  mere  theories  for  a  long  period  but  which 
were  evidently  assumed  among  the  earliest 
preachers  of  the  gospel  and  which  are  rap- 
idly gaining  the  support  of  the  exponents  of 
the  gospel  in  this  modern,  practical  age  with 
its  feeling  of  internationalism  and  human 
equality.    They  are  these : 

7.  The  atoning  blood  of  Christ  has  full 
provisional  value  for  every  human  being, 
and  all  may  accept  its  benefits. 

8.  Its  benefits  are  conditional,  to  all  who 
are  able  to  meet  conditions  of  obedience  and 
faith ;  and  all  who  are  able  to  meet  the  sim- 
ple conditions  and  neglect  or  refuse  to  do  so 
shall  fail  to  realize  any  benefit  from  the 
death  of  Christ  excepting  the  stay  of  execu- 
tion which  they  will  have  enjoyed  during 
their  days  of  grace. 

Frequently  in  this  study  our  references 
have  included  passages  of  Scripture  plainly 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      123 

supporting  one  or  another  of  this  list  of 
facts;  but  we  are  simply  giving  the  New 
Testament  as  our  proof  text  for  this  formal 
list  of  axiomatic  positions  on  the  atonement, 
which  are  accepted  without  question  by  the 
great  bulk  of  active,  orthodox  Christians  in 
the  world  today. 

THE    MOOTED  QUESTIONS. 

The  theories  of  the  atonement  ask  the 
questions:  Is  justice  absolute,  or  is  it  only 
relative,  having  no  abstract  existence?  Is 
the  justice,  therefore,  which  made  impossi- 
ble the  sinner's  recovery  without  an  atone- 
ment purely  rectoral,  something  that  in- 
heres in  government;  and  does  this  alone 
make  necessary  the  punishment  of  sin,  or  is 
there  a  mysterious  something  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  God  which  makes  true  the  assertion 
that  God  must  punish  sin  in  order  to  be 
true  to  his  perfect  nature?  The  doctrine  of 
relative  justice  belongs  to  the  "governmen- 
tal theory"  and  the  doctrine  of  absolute  jus- 
tice belongs  to  the  "substitution  theory."  In 
the  less  modern  centuries  we  had  theologians 
who  thoroughly  understood  those  distincr 
tions,  who  saw  no  middle  ground,  and  spent 
much  time  on  the  metaphysics  of  the  ques- 
tion. But  later,  theologians  began  to  appear 
who  saw  satisfaction  analogies  in  the  gov- 
ernmental theory,  and  governmental  analo- 
gies in  the  satisfaction  theory.    We  are  to- 


124      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

day  more  modest  in  denying  remote  con- 
ceptions that  we  cannot  disprove,  and  carry- 
ing analogies  into  identities,  as  if  an  analogy 
were  a  photographic  exposure  of  the  real 
thing  instead  of  a  suggestive  mode  of  ap- 
prehension not  applying  at  all  points.  We 
know  that  God's  thoughts  are  higher  than 
ours,  and  that  we  are  such  lame  thinkers 
that  we  have  to  go  on  crutches,  made  from 
the  timber  of  every  day  experience;  that  we 
have  to  pass  from  the  known  to  the  unknown 
in  a  very  childish  way,  and  that  we  should 
be  modest  on  the  theoretical  side.  Men  on 
crutches  should  not  strut.  Perhaps  rectoral 
justice  is  also  absolute  and  absolute  justice 
is  rectoral.  Perhaps  man  is  mistaken  when 
he  thinks  he  can  conceive  of  a  period  ante- 
dating the  time  when  God  first  had  a  gov- 
ernment, with  intelligent  subjects  whose  re- 
lation to  each  other  and  to  him  had  to  be 
standardized  in  terms  of  law. 

The  theories  of  the  atonement  ask  the 
question,  further:  Is  separation  from  God 
the  only  decreed  penalty  for  sin  for  which 
an  atoning  Savior  would  be  needed  to  find 
a  remedy?  Are  all  the  other  consequences  of 
sin,  the  miseries  of  life  and  the  horrors  of 
perdition,  automatic,  following  as  a  sequence 
similar  to  natural  law,  so  that  a  man  goes  to 
hell  by  a  kind  of  gravitative  necessity,  be- 
cause of  the  fact  that  he  is  not  fit  for  heaven 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      125 

and  for  no  other  reason?  One  form  of  the 
governmental  theory  answers  yes;  the  satis- 
faction theory  in  its  old  standard  form 
knows  no  difference  between  an  event  of  nat- 
ural law,  a  "'consequence,"  and  a  direct  fiat 
of  divine  will  as  when  man  sinned  and  was 
cut  off.  It  knows  no  "permissive  provi- 
dence" ;  and  all  the  afflictions  that  a  sinner 
brings  upon  himself  are  sent  of  God  because 
they  were  eternally  involved  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  universe.  So,  also,  his  banish- 
ment into  hell  is  an  act  of  the  great  Judge. 
On  this  theory,  the  atonement  in  Christ  was 
accepted  as  an  equivalent  sacrifice  in  substi- 
tution for  our  deserts  in  hell  as  well  as  our 
penalty  of  separation  from  God. 

SUBSTITUTION. 

So  far  as  we  know  the  philosophical  as- 
pects of  the  atonement  which  take  rise  from 
the  above  questions  were  never  even  consid- 
ered by  the  preachers  and  writers  of  the 
early  church.  Substitution,  where  life  is 
given  for  life,  or  imprisonment  taken  for 
imprisonment,  is  impossible  under  the  more 
perfect  modern  theory  of  government;  for  a 
citizen's  life  is  "unalienable",  as  is  his  liberty 
also.  This  is  because  he  owes  himself  to  so- 
ciety, and  cannot  ignore  this  debt  to  assume 
that  of  some  other.  But  if  the  individual 
were  to  come  in  from  another  realm,  having 
none  of  these  obligations  on  his  own  account, 


126      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

the  situation  would  be  different,  and  he  could 
give  his  life  or  liberty  in  substitution  for 
another.  The  grandfather  of  this  writer, 
having  no  military  obligations,  because  he 
was  below  military  age,  gave  himself  in  1815 
in  one  of  America's  greatest  defensive  bat- 
tles, to  be  shot  at  as  a  substitute  for  a  man 
who  had  a  family  and  was  subject  to  con- 
scription. Substitution  prevails  today  also 
in  the  discharge  of  civil  obligations,  where 
the  state  lays  a  requirement  upon  its  citi- 
zens of  a  certain  age,  and  where  the  substi- 
tution is  offered  by  exempted  citizens  or  cit- 
izens of  another  state.  Equivalent  substitu- 
tion is  also  true  to  governmental  precedents, 
as  when  some  years  ago  an  indigent  citizen 
of  a  certain  nation  was  sentenced  to  banish- 
ment for  an  offense,  the  alternative  being  ten 
thousand  pounds  in  gold.  A  wealthy  rela- 
tive, not  known  in  the  community  of  the 
condemned  man,  came  down  and  surprised 
the  court  by  paying  the  ten  thousand  pounds, 
which,  by  the  way,  he  had  inherited  from  an 
ancestry  which  was  common  to  him  and  his 
poor  relative. 

The  references  of  the  New  Testament 
compel  us  to  concede  that  these  analogies 
of  equivalent  substitution  are  on  some  scale 
germane  for  setting  forth  atonement  in 
Christ.  The  mistake  has  been  in  trying  to 
be  too  exact  in  insisting  upon  the  "logic"  of 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      127 

the  analogy.  Analogies  have  no  logic. 
Wherever  they  fit  they  are  available,  and 
where  they  fail  to  fit  they  are  annulled.  The 
great  mass  of  old  style  writers  have  rea- 
soned that  if  Christ  was  our  substitute  the 
substitution  must  have  been  in  the  nature 
of  paying  all  penalties,  which  amounted  to  a 
man's  absolution  before  he  was  born  and 
made  his  salvation  inevitable  and  his  regen- 
eration non-forfeitable  if  he  should  be  among 
the  elect.  Whatever  may  be  the  direction 
of  truth  in  the  questions  of  election  and 
final  perseverance,  modern  thought  is  en- 
tirely too  practical  to  accept  a  view  that  ex- 
empts men  from  obligation  and  makes  inevi- 
table the  salvation  of  all  for  whom  Christ 
died.  Such  a  position  forces  us  to  say  one 
of  two  things :  That  Christ  died  for  only  part 
of  the  race  and  that  the  damnation  of  the 
rest  is  decreed;  or  that  Christ  died  for  all 
and  the  salvation  of  all  is  decreed,  regard- 
less of  their  impenitence.  Both  positions  are 
so  destructive  to  true  evangelism  and  para- 
lyzing to  the  untrammelled  better  judgment 
of  our  day  that  they  are  found  only  in  musty 
creeds,  to  be  recited  by  the  habitually  devout 
in  their  absent  minded  moments. 

It  is  here,  in  matters  beyond  the  human 
understanding,  that  Christendom  has  wasted 
its  strength  in  centuries  of  division;  but 
this  is  a  valley  in  which  the  Christianity  of 


128      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

today  is  un wiling  to  sojourn  and  waste  the 
time  that  it  should  devote  to  its  appointed 
task.  We  may  study  dispassionately  these 
metaphysical  intricacies;  but  no  longer  can 
we  let  them  be  sources  of  friction  without 
condemning  ourselves  before  the  world  and 
at  the  bar  of  our  own  moral  judgment. 
Back  to  the  uiiity  of  pentecost  in  our  pur- 
poses, and  back  to  the  simplicity  of  the 
apostles  in  our  expression,  should  be  the 
watchword  of  all  contenders  for  the  faith. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  GOSPEL  PROGRAM. 

It  is  agreed  that  the  death  of  a  divine  Sa- 
vior was  necessary,  to  provide  salvation  for 
man.  This  divine  Savior  has  died ;  and  now 
all  men  are  provisionally  saved.  All  men 
are  saved,  except  as  they  lose  themselves  by 
personal  sin.  Adam's  sin,  though  its  effects 
linger  with  us  in  the  weird  mystery  of  "orig- 
inal sin,"  can  damn  no  one.  Its  legal  re- 
sult is  unconditionally  removed  in  the  vica- 
rious death  of  the  Son  of  God.*  But  though 
the  decree  of  the  fall  is  provisionally  ended 
by  one  stroke  of  a  Savior's  love,  the  effect  of 
it  in  human  society  is  an  open  sore ;  and  the 
mighty  agencies  of  moral  and  spiritual  de- 
struction occasioned  by  man's  break  with 
God  cannot  be  dismissed  in  a  day.  More- 
over, it  is  sad  to  say  that  these  agencies  of 
destruction  cannot  be  stemmed  in  time  to 
avert  the  eternal  loss  of  countless  thou- 
sands whose  blood  is  on  fire  with  the  spirit 
of  evil  and  whose  minds  are  too  dark  to  ap- 
prehend the  plan  of  salvation. 

The  main  task  of  the  church  is  to  publish 
the  good  nev^,  to  let  men  know  that  they 

*Romaas  5:19;  1  Carlnthiams  15:22. 

129 


130      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

are  saved  through  the  death  of  Christ;  and 
"T;hat  now  they  have  the  privilege  to  hand 
themselves  over  to  the  restoring  agencies  of 
^heaven  and  turn  their  faces  back  toward 
their  lost  paradise.  Modern  orthodox! 
thought  makes  much  of  the  restoring  agen- 
cies of  heaven.  It  sticks  to  the  contention 
that  blood  atonement  for  sin  was  necessary ; 
(but  it  is  not  unanimous  in  supposing  that 
blood  atonement  was  necessary  for  the  re- 
pair of  misfortunes,  the  enrichment  of  pov- 
erty, the  binding  of  broken  hearts,  the  heal- 
ing of  disease,  the  dispelling  of  ignorance, 
and  the  restoration  of  Edenic  glory.  It  is 
easy  to  believe  that  angels  can  do  those 
things  when  the  right  is  given  them  by 
blood  divine — when  the  sinner  gets  by  the 
cherubim  and  flaming  sword  that  guard  the 
gates  against  guilt.  If  a  man  could  have 
fallen  over  the  battlements  of  heaven,  down 
into  some  quagmire  of  material  corruption, 
and  become  battered  and  helpless,  and  if  his 
calamity  could  have  been  overlooked  for  a 
millennium,  until  he  had  lost  touch  with 
heavenly  light  and  his  intelligence  had  be- 
come encased  in  confusion  and  ignorance, 
there  would  have  been  no  need  for  any  to 
die  in  his  behalf  as  a  vindication  of  justice 
or  to  protect  the  integrity  of  divine  govern- 
ment in  bringing  him  back.  Angels  could 
have  spanned  the  chasm  and  brought  with 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      131 

them  all  things  necessary  for  the  man's  re- 
covery. There  would  have  been  a  thousand 
different  agencies  of  repair  available  in  the 
kingdom  above.  So,  we  may  say,  only  man's 
break  with  God,  and  not  his  innocent  miser- 
ies, has  cost  the  blood  of  God's  dear  Son.* 
And  once  this  legal  barrier  of  condemnation 
is  surmounted,  through  repentance  and  faith 
in  Christ,  man's  lost  inheritance  is  restored; 
and  heaven's  resources  are  as  open  to  him  as 
if  he  had  never  sinned;  and  heaven's  agen- 
cies will  address  themselves  to  repairing  the 
wreck  as  rapidly  as  the  wrecking  crews  can 
connect  up  with  the  various  scenes  of  disas^ 
ter. 

What  angels  are  having  to  do  with  the  gos- 
pel program  we  cannot  say.**  They  are  a 
force  in  the  background,  an  unseen  host, 
available  as  God  may  will.t  Perhaps  they 
have  no  direct  part  in  the  ministry  of  the 
gospel  proper.  But  after  the  gospel  has 
ibeen  published  and  accepted,  we  have  rea- 
son to  believe  that  they  are  eager  allies  with 
the  "wrecking  crew,"  which  represents  no 
small  part  of  the  gospel  program.  When  re- 
ceiving the  atonement  for  sin  one  becomes 
an  heir;  and  heaven  shows  great  eagerness 
that  everything  necessary  to  his  restoration 
should  be  supplied.J 

*1  Peter  3:18;  Romanis  5:10;  iColasslans  1:12-14. 
*Heb.   1:14;   Matt.  4:11. 
tMat.  26.53:  2  Kings  6:15-17. 
JRomans  8:32;  2  Peter  1:3. 


132      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

The  ministry  of  human  relief,  uplift,  and 
education,  is  a  distinct  department  in  the 
mission  of  Christ  and  the  task  of  world  evan- 
gelism, a  distinct  department.  In  theory  it 
is  event  number  two,  ultimately  worthless 
without  salvation  from  sin,  and  very  disap- 
pointing" in  its  results.  But  it  may  progress 
along  side  the  direct  dispensing  of  the  good 
news,  serving  as  a  nucleus  to  reflect  the  light, 
as  an  illustration  to  corroborate  the  gospel 
message  in  the  mind  of  the  multitude,  and 
as  a  concrete  inducement  for  men  to  turn 
from  idols  and  serve  the  living  God. 

The  "wrecking  crew"  needs  no  credentials, 
excepting  to  be  free  from  the  marks  of 
selfishness  and  to  have  a  respectable  qualifi- 
cation for  its  task.  By  this  sentence  we 
mean  to  say  that  the  vast  field  of  human  re- 
lief and  uplift  may  be  entered  by  any  person 
or  group  of  persons  or  cult  or  government. 
And  it  is  quite  natural  that  an  impulse  in 
this  direction  should  be  felt  by  many,  es- 
pecially since  Christianity  has  imparted  the 
vision  of  service  to  the  world  and  begotten 
the  impulse.  Works  of  mercy  and  human 
relief  have  been  taking  form  in  the  better 
civilization  ever  since  the  Master  introduced 
his  examples  of  sympathy  and  relief  in  Pal- 
estine and  Phoenicia.  From  the  impulse  of 
the  first  Christian  revival  grew  the  world's 
first  hospitals  and  asylums  for  the  unfortu- 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      133 

nate.  But  we  are  only  playing  with  the  re^ 
construction  and  relief  of  a  race  broken  by 
the  fall,  as  compared  with  the  restoration 
program  of  God  and  the  angels*  after  this 
broken  race  has  made  confession  of  sin  and, 
being  reconciled  to  God  through  faith  in  the 
merit  of  the  atonement,  has  acknowledged 
the  Lordship  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  get  peo- 
ple Scripturally  converted  may  not  be  as  big 
a  showing  to  the  superficial  observer  as  to 
get  them  scrubbed  and  doctored  and  educa- 
ted ;  but  it  takes  this  conversion  to  put  them 
in  line  for  the  major  program  of  reconstruc- 
tion which  God  has  scheduled  for  the  age  to 
come;  an  age  which  they  cannot  even  enter 
except  as  they  have  salvation  in  Christ.  The 
repairs  that  human  organizations  can  bring 
to  a  race  which  has  suffered  breakage  by 
the  fall  are  ample  to  show  a  loving  heart; 
but  they  are  quite  inadequate.  And  as  for 
the  uplift,  we  can  only  bring  them  to  the 
level  where  we  are,  which  in  the  case  of 
many  a  social  service  movement  will  mean 
but  little  in  terms  of  spiritual  values. 

INFORMATION  AND  EVIDENCE. 

First  and  foremost,  the  program  of  th« 
gospel  is  to  preach  the  good  news  to  every 
creature. t  The  assumption  is  that  every  re- 
sponsible creature,  in  order  to  be  saved,  must 


♦RevelatioTi,  Ch«iptws  31  »nid  33. 
tJtt*  18515. 


134      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

believe  the  gospel;  and  it  is  impossible  for 
one  to  believe  a  thing  that  has  not  been  in- 
troduced to  him.*  Ignorance  and  faith  are 
incompatible.  It  does  not  follow  that  all 
who  hear  shall  be  expected  to  believe.  They 
must  have  more  than  the  mere  announce^ 
ment  or  even  the  urgent  discourse  indicated 
by  the  word  "preach."  They  must  have  the 
evidence  in  the  form  of  witnesses,  whose  life 
and  speech  proclaim  the  power  of  Christ  to 
save  from  sin.  The  responsibility  for  serv- 
ing in  this  capacity  and  inciting  humanity 
on  valid  grounds  to  trust  Christ's  provision 
for  their  salvation  and  follow  him  is  not  con- 
fined to  an  ordained  ministry.  Every  one 
who  is  saved  through  Christ  goes  automat- 
ically upon  the  invitation  committee,  becom- 
ing himself  a  sample  of  the  work  and  a  wit- 
ness with  a  personal  knowledge  of  facts  to 
reinforce  the  proclamation. f 

"State  what  you  know  in  this  case"  is  the 
method  by  which  the  courts  give  recognition 
to  one  in  the  capacity  of  a  witness.  It  re- 
fers to  a  knowledge  resultant  from  personal 
experience  and  not  from  inductive  conclu- 
sions. This  also  is  the  "knowledge"  of  the 
Bible;  and  a  witness  is  one  who  knows.  In 
earlier  apostolic  times  the  word  witness  re- 
ferred to  one  who  had  seen  Jesus  personally ; 
Tbut  this  high  function  was  widened  to  make 

•Romans  10:14. 

tAjote  l:ld;  Mattbaw  90.4-16;  2  Oorintbians  3:2. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      135 

eligible  the  discipleship  of  all  the  centuries' 
to  come,  when  they  shall  have  met  the  con- 
dition for  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the 
gospel  in  their  own  souls. $  The  simple  sit- 
uation is,  there  is  in  all  the  world  one  remedy 
for  sin,  and  we  have  found  it.  In  finding 
it  we  found  attached  to  it  an  order  to  bear 
the  information  of  our  find  to  the  last  man, 
and  to  supplement  this  information  by  per- 
sonally showing  what  the  remedy  had  done 
for  us.  An  innate  law  of  propriety  should 
have  saved  us  from  a  quietness  which  would 
have  made  our  salvation  virtually  a  secret 
reserved  for  our  selfish  use,  a  quietness 
which  must  condemn  us  either  as  being  ab- 
normal or  as  having  missed  in  our  ovvm  soul 
the  deeper  meaning  of  the  secret.  The  Great 
Commission  does  not  ask  the  Church  to  as- 
similate an  alien  mental  state  or  fuse  into  its 
life  a  new  set  of  emotions.  It  tallies  with 
the  feeling  of  every  truly  awakened  heart 
and  only  reinforces  us  with  an  added  ex- 
cuse and  an  authority  from  higher  up,  for 
coming  to  the  tribes  of  earth  exactly  as  the 
better  dictates  of  human  nature  would  have 
us  come. 

RESULTS  THAT  WE  MAY  EXPECT. 

The  painful  slowness  with  which  the  gos- 
pel claims  response  from  the  human  race  is 
due  to  one  of  three  things:     As  in  the  last 

JActs  5:32;  1:8. 


136      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

stage  of  drowning,  the  race  is  so  badly  de- 
pleted in  the  effect  of  the  fall  that  it  is  moral- 
ly unable  to  perceive  an  agent  of  rescue  and 
so  maddened  as  to  make  the  work  of  rescue  a 
dangerous  adventure;  or,  the  agencies  of 
rescue  are  down  in  their  efficiency  by  not 
being  duly  saved  from  that  from  which  they 
are  seeking  to  save  their  fellows — ^the  res- 
cuing swimmers  are  strangled;  or,  there  is 
some  mistake  about  this  sublimely  conceived 
plan  of  salvation  and  we  must  set  about  look- 
ing for  a  better  way.  The  latter  hypothesis 
has  influenced  many  an  ill  advised  educator 
and  reformer ;  but  it  is  too  late  even  to  con- 
sider an  agency  that  proposes  to  rival  Jesus 
Christ  in  presenting  to  all  mankind  the  ideal 
that  challenges  and  the  agency  that  saves. 
The  two  former  explanations  are  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  slowness  of  the  spread  of 
the  gospel,  and  each  stricture  bears  in  its 
very  face  the  evidence  of  fact,  which  would 
retard  the  success  of  any  salvage  movement 
that  infinite  wisdom  could  produce,  the  same 
as  it  frustrates  the  gospel  program. 

But  how,  and  to  what  extent,  are  we  war- 
ranted in  hoping  to  overcome  this  in  the 
sweet  by  and  by,  and  to  have  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world  become  our  Lord's  ?*  Any  one 
fairly  informed  with  reference  to  God  should 
know  without  consulting  a  document  that  he 

'"H'tmleMon  11 :1S. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?     137 

will  finish  what  he  has  begun.  The  doctrine 
of  personal  freedom  applies  to  individ- 
uals, but  divine  decrees  are  back  of  poli- 
cies and  involved  in  the  destiny  of  nations 
and  the  orbit  in  which  worlds  must  swing". 
Throughout  the  pages  of  Holy  Writ  the  for- 
tune of  the  world  is  told,  the  destiny  of 
devil,  the  fate  of  the  Man  of  Sin,  the  future 
of  Christ,  together  with  all  who  follow  him 
and  choose  to  have  their  destiny  bound  up 
with  him.t 

True,  the  mills  grind  slowly;  and  worthy 
authorities  differ  as  to  the  relative  part  to  be 
played  by  the  activities  of  the  church  and  the 
cataclysms  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  and  the 
end  of  the  age;  but  none  who  read  the  in- 
spired fortune  Book  can  doubt  that  it 
promises  success  to  the  enterprise  of  the 
Redeemer,  whatever  may  be  the  unrepaired 
casualties  of  the  fall  in  the  form  of  lost 
souls;  and  this  is  the  one  grievous  misfor- 
tune that  ultra  optimists  have  tried  in  vain 
to  evade.* 

Whatever  may  be  one's  tentative  views 
as  to  the  situation  that  must  characterix^e  the 
end  of  this  age,  and  however  his  tempera^ 
ment  and  conviction  may  incline  him  to  fear 
a  climax  of  carnage,  the  gospel  program 
should  be  put  on  foot  as  if  he  expected  to  be 

tisaiah   11;   Zechariah   14;    DaDiel  2:44;   12:3;   2   Thessta- 
lonians  2:8;   Rievelation  11:15;  19:19,  20;  20:1,  2. 
•PflaJm  9:17;  MabUbew  10:28;  25:46;  Lube  16^26. 


138      WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY? 

crowned  ultimately  with  one  hundred  per 
cent  success.  It  is  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation.  It  has  saved  as  discouraging  and 
improbable  cases  as  any  now  dwelling  amid 
the  fellowships  of  ignorance  and  vice.  It 
must,  by  the  decree  of  its  author,  be  pub- 
lished among  all  nations  before  the  history 
of  this  age  can  be  written. f  Just  after  the 
Master  gave  two  discouraging  parables  ac- 
counting for  the  slow  progress  of  the  gospel 
because  of  the  depraved  and  unresponsive 
situation  of  the  human  heartj  and  the  mal- 
ignant intelligence  that  opposes**  it,  he  re- 
assures us  with  two  more  parables,***  fore- 
casting the  sure  progress  of  the  gospel.  That 
"the  gates  of  hell",  the  aggressive  forces  of 
evil,  shall  not  prevail  against  the  church  of 
Christ  seems  to  be  a  divine  decree,  independ- 
ent of  the  mistakes  of  its  human  custodians. 
These  may  be  set  aside  and  deprived  of  their 
charter;  the  invisible  ark  may  not  continue 
in  the  same  camp;  the  leadership  in  world 
evangelism  may  be  transferred  tomorrow 
from  the  hand  of  those  who  held  it  yester- 
day; thousands  may  prove  unfaithful  to 
their  trust  and  lose  their  crowns ;  but  "many 
shall  be  purified  and  made  white  and  tried" ; 


tMairk  13:10. 

tTbe  parable  of  ttoe  soiwer;  Matthew  13. 

•♦Parable  of  the  itares;  Ibid. 

***The  miustard  seed  lamd  the  leaven ;,  Ibid. 


WHAT  IS  NEW  THEOLOGY?      139 

and  though  in  the  sifting  time  workers  may 
drop  out  of  the  ranks,  and  though  the  grim 
reaper  shall  take  his  annual  toll  even  from 
the  ranks  of  the  faithful;  God,  who  anon 
may  change  his  workers,  will  carry  on  His 
work. 


